Over the past couple of months, I have slowly but surely lost track of who I am. I know this is a question that many of us struggle with. It is a question of identity and where we find our identity is key.
I was reading a book called, Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller, the other day rather randomly, and the chapter that I was on was talking about our identity. Where do we find our self worth? Too often we let what other people think of us determine our worth, or whether or not someone likes us. Why is that? Growing up we're taught that everyone is equal, so why do we let others define who we are? We're all human; we ALL fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
Through the past two weeks, I have been struggling with one of my friendships in particular. I realized that this relationship has defined who I am here at school because it started right away and I never had time to give myself foundations as a college student. Through talking to my good friend John about my struggles, he said exactly what I had been thinking about all week, "You can't let others define you." When I decided to put the struggling friendship on hold, I was so lost and confused. I didn't know what to do without my best friend. But John put into words what I had been thinking. In another rough past relationship I came to the conclusion that often times we as humans put so much time and effort into another person that you are actually putting a piece of yourself into that person, and the act of saying goodbye is like saying goodbye to yourself.
As a Christian, I have been learning more and more that our identity is to be found in Christ alone. In the book Searching for God Knows What, I also read about how we are to find our glory in God and not in other people. As much as we hope that other humans will not let us down, they will. God stands firm, never changing, always there. Thus, this is where we should look to for our identity. Another friend of mine gave me a bracelet the other day not knowing that I would take so much meaning to what is written on the bracelet. It says, "We ALL cast the SAME shadow." Think about this. We are equal and no one is better than anyone else. So, why do we let others tell us and make us think that we're not good enough?
My last point on this topic came up in a chapel service at Eastern University last Wednesday. Mr. Soaries, a pastor and father of a current student at EU, spoke and he said a lot of very powerful things that really hit me hard and made me think. One thing he said was, "Discover who you are instead of trying to be someone else." This is my challenge to whoever reads this and a challenge for me. We all struggle.
