CHOOSE: UNWAVERING IDENTITY

What's your ID?
Mom. Dad. Child, Spouse. Sibling. Friend. Student.
These are standards and many remain unwavering throughout one's life. Sometimes it feels as if we lose our identity as a person and just become one of our labels.

What about in the area of worship? Do we just wear the label of a denomination or religious affiliation. Christian. Jewish. Muslim. Atheist.

Is this the area of one's life where an ambiguous identity is often more visible in certain places, certain days of the week or certain positions at certain times? 

Is is visible on Sundays in a sanctuary or on Saturday in a synagogue but not as recognizable the rest of the week?

Work and worship are not separate identities for believers. Brother Lawrence showed the sacred in washing pots and pans. Even washing dishes became a blessed sacrament for him. (Practicing the Presence of God, p. 12)
Socrates asked (in the prayer from Phaedrus), "May the inward and outward man be at one." (A. Lindberg. Gift from the Sea, p. 23)

The identity that counts is Child of the King. That identity never wavers.
Beloved in Him. An ID of one who lives a life with no separation between spiritual and secular.  Richard Foster calls it, in Freedom of Simplicity, living out of the divine center. (p. 82)

Choose to identify with the LORD and do not waver. It's a lasting identity!

CHOOSE: THE CORRECT FOCUS

Need a new outlook or a fresh focus?

Sometimes we just need to look up---

Whether in a chapel........

.....in a hallway at a storytelling festival...

......or on the road.

Other times we need to look down and absorb the words.

It's crucial to choose the correct focus because our "mind feasts on what it focuses on." (?)

Such thinking can make or break one's identity so a correct focus is key.(Proverbs 23:7)

I.D.

I.D. is the abbreviation for identity or a form of identification shown to prove one's identity. All of that involves outward identification. Just one look at my photo ID on my passport, accompanied by my Visa, allowed me to enter Turkey in November as a tourist. But....I was much more than that as I carried with me my educational background, my family love, my hopes and the testimony of my faith.

There was no way the airport security personnel could look into my "core."
I "looked" the part of a tourist---not a terrorist. Had security "looked within" my suitcase they might have questioned its "tourist's vacation" contents---tea cups, kiddie books, glue, cooking chips, Bible Study guides and dish towels. Recently, in our own country we have seen how outward appearance often belies inner beliefs or intentions.

To those who know me this picture offers many outward clues to my identity---

As a Christian, I can appear at church on any given Sunday outwardly looking much the same---happy, energetic, spiritual, "together." But somedays my outward appearance contradicts my inner disarray. Inner turmoil can be brewing yet smiles and conversation keep coming. That's okay because there is a time and place to deal with difficulties--- tho church steps on a busy Sunday morning might not be the best choice, at least not for me.

Inner disarray---how blessed to have a Lord who understands and friends in the faith who faithfully pray and offer wise counsel.

Then, one's true I.D. can show forth inwardly and outwardly---beloved child of God, the identity that counts. (Galatians 3:26, I Thessalonians 1:4)

"Identi-TEA" : a re-brew

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22, NIV)

"I" is for Identi-TEA was the 12/23/09 blog title. Info given is still  a part of my identity fabric. Alphabetical order is a part of who I am and how I organize---sometimes to a fault. The entry was a bit of a walk down memory lane for me.

These days a cuppa of my identi-TEA would be filled with these words---a book lovin’ tea drinker with a burnt toast nametag, 

This was not a staged burn---tho I did scrape it and "tried" to eat some of it---because I don't like to "waste."

----a gal who loves to write for the Lord but who lacks the gene given to poets who are able to say the MOST with the fewest words. Not so with me. Words string forth. A cuppa Verbosi-TEA---is that a word??

That entry from 4 1/2 years ago also dealt with "I" words in scripture. "I" words that identify the Lord.

For this entry, my word choices will identify who I am in the Lord......because that's the identity that counts.

My "in Christ" identity "SHIELD"---

Blessed. (Luke 11:28) Created. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Forgiven. (Ephesians 1:7) Healed. (Isaiah 53:5) Justified. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Loved. (Romans 8:38-39) Redeemed. (Titus 2:14) Sanctified. (1 Corinthians 1:2) Saved (Psalm 3:8)

These participles might not all start with the same letter but they are in alphabetical order and express the continuous action aspect of my life's identity.

"identi-TEA": a Re-brew

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; (Jeremiah 1:5a, NIV)

Those words were spoken by the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah. They are true for us today, as well.  God, as creator, even knows and names the stars. (Isaiah 40:26.) But as our creator, God factors love into His relationship with man.  We are known and personally loved by our Good Shepherd; (John 10:14) He calls us friend. (John 15:15) He calls us by name. (John 10:13) He has set us apart for the plans He has for us, as Jeremiah continued in the verse.
Therefore Our true identity is in Him.

This morning's cuppa of identi-TEA was my third one. In October of 2010, I began with the many ID badges I had worn in my life time and concluded with, "I plan to savor my identi--TEA with a “cuppa”----Lyons Gold Blend---as I begin my day with Him, because that’s the identity that counts for eternity. In July 2011, as I was entering a new season in life, I had begun to reflect on and rethink my identity---wondering how others might "see" me.

Now-a-days,  I ask, "Do my actions allow others to "see" my true identity? Child of God.

Once again, on this snowy February morning in 2014, I'm spending "Tea With Thee" time with my Lord sipping a cuppa true identi-TEA. A cuppa poured into my heart by the One whose sacrifice gave me that identitiy. My ID is really His ID imparted.

Remember---the Lord calls you by name, even your nickname...
 or your grandparent one!

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1) 

My last "cuppa"...........

5/27/11........at Houston High and in a special "gift" mug from Traci. "Friends are like flowers; you get to pick 'em!" How grateful I am for the HHS folks that "picked me!" It's been the relationships within these school wall that have made this last "work" season so special for me. It all still seems somewhat surreal.

I'm sure when I close the reference library door for the last time, a part of my heart will just chip off and reside there. It hurt just to take the Mrs. Liles sign down---like ripping off part of my identity. "Miss Dotsy" for 21 years as a pre-school/kindergarten teacher (and university tenure) and Mrs. Liles for the last 21, as a librarian was who I was.....a working woman.

The school farewell gift was a perfect remembrance----an Arthur Court chip and dip with horses, representing not only the mustang symbol of HHS but symbolic also for this born and bred Kentucky gal who is leaving. As I drive off in my silver "old lady" Cadillac, I'm sure someone is waiting in the distance for slot #1 in the front parking lot facing east. I just hope they enjoy their tenure as much as I have.