Who are you?

And this is the testimony of John.  When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites [to him] to ask him, “who are you?” he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Messiah.”  So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”‘ as Isaiah the prophet said.”  They asked him “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”  This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.  (John 1:19-28 New American Bible translation)

Who are you? Did you ever stop to ask yourself that question?  If you have, what answers did you come up with?  I would venture to guess that many of us could and would come up with a list of adjectives and nouns to describe WHO we are.  Let’s see:  there’s our gender, our nationality, our profession, our religion, our political party, our relationship status and so much more.  But is that who we REALLY are?

I have read so many books on the topic of True Self vs. False Self and what those books have helped me realize is that all the words in the world that I can come up with in an attempt to define who I am, do NOT define me at all.   Looking back on my life as it relates to all this,  I noticed one important fact.  Although I use various words to describe myself, I never really IDENTIFIED with them.  In other words, I use them because it’s the language society understands, but I never truly believed myself to BE them.  As I ponder the idea of who I am, I realize that the titles we place on ourselves serve to limit us. I am aware that at the very core of my being, WHO I am is a soul with a purpose.  The way I see it – I am a limitless being – I am a child of God!  I live a very good, happy life.  People may chalk it up to hard work and determination on my part, I chalk it up to the grace of God – my rock, my strength, my refuge!

We spend much of our lives seeking, wondering what our purpose in life is.  We pose the question but we don’t want to put the work in to answer it.  I would venture to say that when we put the work in and release the façade of our false selves in order to live in our truth we run the risk of being “different” and THAT my friends is probably the reason we fear the excavation of self.

Let John the Baptist be our example.  Who did he say he was?  He said he is the “voice of the one crying out in the desert”. He was considered quite “odd” in his day but he was “true” to himself.  He knew his purpose, he was pointing the way to Christ the best way he knew how and that is what we are meant to do as well.  That is our purpose.  We are called, in our little corner of the world, to  be John the Baptist to those around us.  In our duties and responsibilities as parents, friends, bosses, co-workers, etc. we are called to be the light of Christ in the world.

Who do YOU say you are?  Share your thoughts with me!  God bless you!