Step 4: Rediscovery - You Beneath The Labels (Conclusion)

So who are you? Really? You've spent an entire lifetime creating identities and collecting labels. It's doubtful that you see yourself today the same way that you saw yourself five years ago. Ten years ago. And chances are you will stand in front of the mirror a decade from now and peer deeply into the eyes of someone different in many ways than the person you see today.

Some of the labels we wear are positive. Labels like "Successful Businessman" or "Loving Mother" or "Generous Neighbor," and we wear them proudly.

Some of the labels are negative. And they are labels that others have, rightly or wrongly, affixed to us in our worst moments of life. Sometimes in those darkest days we hear a deep, inner, sinister voice speaking those labels into our psyche and we become convinced that the voice is speaking truth and the labels, as much as we hate them, are ones we must own and shamefully display. And often times the voice etching these labels into our person is the voice of religion speaking the language of dogma in a dialect of condemnation.

A necessary step in spiritual recovery is the stripping away of all of the labels that have suffocated our true selves and coming face to face with the being that emerged from the heart of God with our arrival in the human experience.

So who are you?

Your conception was Divinely deliberate.

Your existence was planned long before your parents were conceived.

You were fashioned and formed under the loving watch of an eternal Father.

When you were born, God gave birth to His image here on earth.

You are the product of a Divine imagination.

You are the fulfillment of God's dreams for the earth to know and experience one more expression of Himself through you.

You are the very incarnation of Divine love.

To truly live and to be spiritually whole is to own this as your real identity, and then live, simply yet authentically and with abandon, out of that identity. We'll get to that in step six.

"Just like a sunbeam can't separate itself from the sun,
and a wave can't separate itself from the ocean, 
we can't separate ourselves from one another. 
We are all part of a vast sea of love,
one indivisible divine mind." 
~ Marianne Williamson

Comments

[Jessica Mokrzycki]

What an inspiring post! I definitely think that much of our perceived identities are built upon our own illusions. Our memories, our interpretations, the way we internalize things, and the way we allow others, including the Church, to identify us, clouds the eyes of our soul from truly seeing the real us. The "I", that truly is me, can be but a flicker of light amidst the junk that tries to overshadow it.

I love how you listed the Promises of God and what He, through Scripture, tells us who we truly are. May we focus on the truth and not be distracted on the lies and illusions. I know I've started to live a lot more fruitful life, with more peace and joy, when I started doing that. Contemplative prayer has also helped move me past illusion and attachment of false things.
Great post!

[Martha Orlando]

Inspiring as always! Thank you for reminding us that we are, indeed, part of God's divine and perfect plan and we are His children first and foremost.

Blessings!

[Elramey]

Bill, I truly appreciate these messages on labels. Who am I?
I am His beloved...I am wonderfully and fearfully made...I am the apple of His eye...as are we all in Christ.

Yesterday I tried to leave this lengthy comment, but it must not have been meant to be published, because I was never able :( But today I found grace :) ~ Bless you

[Bill]

Hiya Elramey!

I'm so glad you were able to comment without difficulty. I always enjoy hearing from you.

Have a fabulous weekend!