Good morning…
“In all of creation, identity is a challenge only for humans,” writes David Benner in The Gift of Being Yourself. “A tulip knows exactly what it is. It is never tempted by false ways of being. Nor does it face complicated decisions in the process of becoming. So it is with dogs, rocks, trees, stars, amoebas, electrons and all other things. All give glory to God by being exactly what they are. For in being what God means them to be, they are obeying him. Humans, however, encounter more challenging existence. We think. We consider options. We decide. We act. We doubt. Simply being is tremendously difficult to achieve and fully authentic being is extremely rare…
There is, however, a way of being for each of us that is as natural and deeply congruent as the life of a tulip. Beneath the roles and masks lies a possibility of self that is as unique as a snowflake. It is an originality that has existed since God first loved us into existence. Our true self-in-Christ is the only self that will support authenticity. It and it alone provides an identity that is eternal.” (16-17)
Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? (Romans 9:20-23, MSG).
Whether God has shaped us to be like a vase for holding flowers or a pot for cooking beans, may we live more and more of our moments as naturally and deeply congruent as the life of a tulip,
…Sue…
