“Identity is never simply a creation. It is always a discovery. True identity is always a gift of God…
God created you in uniqueness and seeks to restore you to that uniqueness in Christ.”
David G. Benner – “The Gift of Being Yourself”
The idea that only God knows the best version of ourselves and that we have the opportunity to pursue that, with him, is profound. That the original best me is made in his image and restored to that through Christ, is powerful. All that is left is my response. All that is left is to take that step toward that best me, that complete me, that holy me.
I don’t have to. There’s a tragic beauty in that. That I am given the choice is insane. That I could ignore that best version and live any way that I choose to is also a gift, though not one we choose to talk very freely about. The ability to choose. That terrifies us more than anything.
Yet I can choose that best version. I can choose to become that first-run, author’s favorite, signed edition and that, too is a gift. An even better, bigger gift, in my opinion. Because in my true self, I am a better everything than I could be any other way. I’m a better man, better husband, better father and friend, better brother and son, better employee, better writer, better cook, better poet, better dancer, better architect, better speaker, better teacher, better individual and a much better follower.
That’s what too many fear to choose, again in my opinion. To choose to follow is to sacrifice the will. And too many don’t have the patience to find that in the sacrifice, the will isn’t lost, but perfected. In the sacrifice, the desire isn’t abandoned, but focused. In the choice to follow, the self isn’t absorbed or forgotten or ignored, but celebrated, honed and fulfilled.
“Lead me, Father, deeper into that uniqueness that you have made in me. Lead me more into the likeness of your Son who restores me. Lead me further into the journey of me in you that you have for me.”