Growing Our Identity

Friends of Faith:

Who am I?

When Moses asked this question of God, he answered, “I am, who I am.” Ex 3:14

God’s identity is supreme, it is stripped of anything or anyone else—it is supremely one, He is supremely his own. And God’s desire for us is that we become like him, holy and without blemish, because he formed us in his image and likeness (Gn 1: 26)

Our identity, then, should not be defined by how we see ourselves or how someone else sees us, by what we own or don’t own, or by whom we know or don’t know, but rather only by how God sees us.

Yet in our human nature, all of us try to identify ourselves either by what we do, by what we have or by whom we know or are associated with (I am an accountant, he is the Chicago Cubs pitcher, they are the ones with the child who …., she’s the one that wears the fancy hat or drives the red sports car, they’re the ones with the mansion of a house or a great “man cave,” or they’re the ones who we always see with … at the football game).

And when I lose my ability to be an accountant, when the ball player loses his ability to throw a ball 99 miles an hour, when a child can’t or doesn’t have the desire to achieve all that we thought they should or could, when our car is wrecked or our house is blown over by a tornado, or when our friends move on – who are we then, who do we become without all this stuff, without all that we do, or without someone we thought we could depend on?

“And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.  It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.  Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Mt 13: 2-9

This parable isn’t just about what we do, but rather it is about growing our identity in and through our faith, about opening our ears and hearts to listen to God’s word (the seed) to be sure that it falls on rich ground (us.)

God’s word is like pure refreshing water. We can treasure and accept it like a cleansing rain or try to control it and make our own—eroding the soil and his truth, rejecting it as somehow polluted because we believe man’s ways are better than God’s ways.

I am asked to examine where the richness of my faith lies: in rich soil, Him, or choked out by the rocks and weeds of power or greed. I am asked to look for, recognize, and pull out the weeds and rocks in my life by examining and prioritizing Him over the materialism which overtakes the growth of the identity he desires for me.

I desire roots which are firmly planted in the truths of His church, nurtured by prayer and formation, and which will allow me to overcome the peer pressures of an immoral society.

I hope to grow my identity upwards, so that the fruit I am gifted with will become pollen for others by evangelization and the spreading of His good news.   

Heavenly Father, You are the greatest farmer, with seed so rich it fills my every need.  Refresh me with the pure, true and living water of Your Spirit. Help me to weed out the impurities of my life and strip myself of earthly riches, of the rocks and thorns which overshadow the identity you desire. May I bear fruit not of human materialism, but of a love which cares for and serves others. Help me to become more like your “I am,” created anew: holy, pure, humble and grateful to live in this, your heavenly garden. Amen.

Is my soul growing richer in God’s identity each day? Will I bear heavenly fruit?

May we reach out to each other to grow in faith together,
Blessings,
Charlotte

Exercise

Friends of Faith:

Exercise—oh how I hate that word. I’d much rather not do it, and I keep hoping someone else will do it for me than so that I don’t have to do it myself.

On the flip side, I love to eat: all I can, whenever possible. It seems to be my favorite recreation. I am always inventing reasons to eat out and trying new things to eat in my kitchen.

But we all know what happens when we eat and don’t exercise. We get fat, not healthy. Instead of the food I am eating becoming the nutrition which energizes and strengthens, I become sluggish, lack endurance and become weak.

And vice-versa for some who exercise whenever possible, but starve themselves physically. They too are unhealthy.

It’s a delicate balance. Most of us struggle at some time with the balance and very few are perfectly balanced all or even most of the time.

He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves." They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people." Now the men there numbered about five thousand… Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets. Lk 9: 13-17

And the balance between eating and exercising is very much like the balance we need in our spiritual lives—between being present and fed by Christ’s word and food each week in the Eucharist and by the way we exercise the faith we profess when we walk outside the walls of the church.

By just exercising our “goodness” as a person without being nourished spiritually we will be left unfulfilled and wanting. To say we have faith and to do good without attending Church and receiving the promise of the Eucharistic food we will be left weak and sluggish—without enough Spirit to move us forward.

And vice-versa, by just eating the food of the Eucharist and not exercising His message I won’t be entirely healthy, because this was not God’s intention for us as a community of well fed Christians.

Unlike earthly food which becomes more like us, God’s food (the Eucharist) is intended to make us more like Him. His nourishment should spiritually strengthen us and better equip us to exercise of our faith though the gifts he has given us in our talents and through His graces. Instead of being taken in, He is in us to take us out—to show His glory to the world by the way we live.

But just like exercise, we have to do something to make that happen, to use the nourishment (the faith) He gives us.

Heavenly Father, in the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus, by His Body and Blood given to us as our everlasting food, at the Last Supper, and by His death on the cross (exercise) you have shown us perfect balance in word and deed. Help me to learn to balance my life. May the fulfillment I receive by Your food (Eucharist and Scripture) be multiplied by the faithful exercise of Your presence in my life. Thank you for the promise of fulfillment in the rewards of heaven.  Amen.

Exercise in the Spirit, eat and be filled by the Body of Christ, be balanced by a perfect God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)—the perfect unending trinity.
Blessings,
Charlotte