I can be hard-headed about who I am, forgetting that my identity is more than just what can be seen and experienced. “Child of God” is the true identity I wear as I make my way in the world.
As a daily meditation, I ask myself: Who do you believe you are? Who do you say you are? How do you know who you are? Who do you want to be?
After each question, I say: God called me by name, specially and specifically. I am God’s own daughter, always and irrevocably.
Sometimes it’s tough to give this answer and let it be. Sometimes I have to stop myself from mentally listing the ways in which I fall short of “child of God.” What could possibly make me worthy? So many other people seem smarter, more engaging, much better. I want to bargain. I want to hide. Sometimes my mind strays to labels people affixed to me in the past. It’s enough to make me want to do something – something to earn the right to proclaim my identity as a child of God.
But God has called each of us by name.
This message is excerpted from “What makes us worthy?” by Karris Golden in the January/February 2023 Gather magazine.
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