I have always heard that college is the time to figure out who you are. However, I met a 32-year-old woman the other day who said she found herself having lunch with a friend and thinking to herself, "who exactly am I?" I know that ever since I was a little kid when an adult asked me who I was, I would say "Oh, I'm (insert mother or father's name)'s daughter!" But what really defines us?
I feel as if I don't really know who I am, and that's the whole point of living life, to shape yourself to be who you want to be. I asked my mom "who are you?" Her response was that she's my dad's girlfriend and a mom of three. I am sure if I asked other moms I would get a similar answer. I guess what I am wondering is why do we give answers that the world wants to hear? My mom is awesome, one of the most devoted followers of Christ, but even she didn't respond with anything about how she is a child of God, or how she is an awesome person.
In church a little while back, my preacher read a passage out of Romans. He said that we should not only be children of God, but in reality we should be servants of God. An older translation said that we should be slaves to God.
In today's world, I really think I have it backwards. I want God to be my slave and answer every prayer I might have and make everything go exactly how I want it. But I recently realized that I shouldn't be trying to figure out who I am, but whose I am. So back to my mom's answer... Most people would probably give answers describing themselves by a skill they have or who their parents are or maybe where they went to school. But who are you on the inside? God is who gives you what you have on the inside, so why not tell people whose you are?
I am a hater of asparagus and a lover of birthday cake ice cream.
I am loud, and sometimes obnoxious.
I am organized, but not too organized.
I am still figuring out this whole life thing.
I am not one to show much emotion. I am one to feel too much emotion.
But most importantly, I am God's. Forever and always.
I asked two very very good friends of mine if they could see Christ through me and in what ways. One said that they could because I am my own person, and that I'm always myself. I am my own person, but I am who I am because God designed me to be that way.
Almost every one of my friends look in the mirror and see the acne or the frizzy hair, and they think that defines them. God designed every one of us to be who He wants us to be, because we belong to him. God did not put us on this Earth to find ourselves in college and become good people so that we will have a decent life. He put us on this Earth to be servants for him so that we might be able to lead other people to get to spend life with him after our time on Earth is up. I am so far from perfect. I am not the perfect example of Jesus' love, but I am trying to be better. So my prayer is that when you ask yourself, "who am I," you are confident in your answer. You are a child of God, you are loved by God, you are a servant of God, and you are cherished by many people in your life. And if you don't like the answer, what are you going to do to change it?
