The Saturday Stoke #10
Listen to The Saturday Stoke
Who are you trying to impress?
Stop it.
Whenever I detect behavior from my daughters that I know they’ve picked up from someone else, I ask them, “Is that who you are?”
They now the question is coming, and they’re quick with their retort: “No, Daddy.”
Cue the eye-roll. But I also sense they love the reminder. I think it’s because they know I’m not going to smack them upside their spirit with guilt or a harsh reprimand.
They know that I’m merely going to ask them. “Who are you again?”
“Daddy. I’m Bri.”
“Oh, hi, Bri,” I reply. And I catch their smirk in the rearview or at the dinner table. And then I look at them and say, “Hey Bri, BE YOU.”
They smile and look away with a good-kind-of-bashful, because I’ve recovered a little bit of who they are at that moment, and have reminded them how much I love them.
“Okay, Daddy,” they reply with a half-smile. And that’s the end of it.
Be You.
Be you. Never be afraid or embarrassed to be you. That’s not an invitation for my daughters to be crazy or fly off the rails. It’s not a Get Out of Jail Free card for selfish behavior. It’s permission to say no to the world out there that wants to bend them into some distorted version of the person God created each of them to be. And I won’t stand for it.
We live in a world in which identity has become a multiple-choice question. I can’t imagine the uncertainty that accompanies such a view of the self, especially in children.
For years, in my late teens and twenties, I traveled far and wide to “find myself.” But I wasn’t in search of an identity. I was more in search of what I was supposed to do in life. If there was one thing I knew after I found God when I was 20, it was this: I was His, and no one was taking that away from me.
There’s a special peace in knowing that your identity is rooted in God.
Identity is not a choose your own adventure book. Identity is etched in the splintered cross of Christ. I am his. I am his friend, and he is my Lord.
When identity begins here, at this foundational spiritual level, the question of, “What am I going to do with my life?” carries significantly less weight. It doesn’t stress me out. I know I’m his, and I know that if I continue to obey him, I will find peace upon the path of life.
Fearfully & Wonderfully Made.
Here’s a quick hack for remembering who you are.
And look, I know you’re not a nine-year-old. But for me, the simple truth in the statement, “Be you” carries significant weight.
The Scriptures say you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Think about that truth this morning, and throughout the weekend. When you’re scrolling Instagram, remember, that he knit you together while you were in your mother’s womb—how unique you are to Him.
He created your inmost being—he knows the depths of your soul. No need to compare yourself to others online, or in your neighborhood, or in your vocation.
Just be the one thing God intended before you walked on this earth: Be You.
Stay stoked, my friends.
