Identity reform.

Walking around my workplace this am, I began to reflect on a single question:

How much of who I am is tied up in my loyalty and passion for my job?  

I have often talked about my propensity to care too much about work.  It is so easy to get your priorities out of whack and focus on the game, the competition, the successes, and even the failures.  Perhaps, performers are subject to this same psychosis.  How often have you heard the quote.. "you are only as good as your last performance on stage".. I know I have heard it and said it to my students many many times.

Here is the problem... Who we are is NOT what we do and a projected/formed/ideal identity just doesn't exist in the real world.  We wrap ourselves up into these cocoons of perception based press releases and after a while we tend to believe our own press and miss the reality of facts. 

• Where is the money being spent?
• Where is your time being spent?
• Who is getting the best of your energy? your family, your employer, your ministry?
• Is your life growing closer to God, or are you becoming more and more self centered?
• Are you focusing on the simple things in life?  Being, Loving, Serving?
• Do you remember, that simple does NOT mean easy?
• Is your illusion of command and control keeping up?   politics, religion, economics?
• Can you even remember a day where you didn't constantly worry?

I propose a comprehensive Identity reform package. It doesn't even need to be voted on. Each of us is free to act on our own within our own scope of influence.   From businesses, to churches, to families, to personal brands..  We ALL need to balance and better understand who we are before we focus on what we do. 

• You are loved, and beloved of God.
• You are a product of your parents, your family, and your surroundings. 
• You are constantly changing, never complete, and filled with potential.
• You have nothing to fear.
• You are creative and capable of creations beyond your wildest dreams.
• You are going to be constantly in trouble if you are focused on serving and loving others. Relationships are just wired that way.

We tend to say: "I am what I do" and we miss the whole point of loving one another and interacting.  The daily journey which we embrace each morning is the objective. Our "success/value" flows not from our accomplishments/failures but instead from our perspective.  

If you are Fearless, Happy, and Constantly in trouble.. then you are probably doing just fine.It is that simple, but it isn't easy.

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? 
To act justly and 
to love mercy and 
to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 NIV