Zoe Hatcher's Blog

I once had someone ask me, "Who are you?" I never thought such a simple sounding question could throw me. "Well, I'm a wife, a mother... Uhhh...", "I mean besides that. Who are you aside from being a wife and a mother?" She was basically saying...Is that all you are? It left me with the wind knocked out of me... If you know me, you know I'm a thinker. I probably think too much... So I thought about this. That was eight years ago and I still think about it. "Who am I?" Have you ever filled out one of those surveys, Myspace and forwards are full of them. In fact I do have one on my Myspace... ;) You know the ones, what is your favorite ice cream and who do you like to watch sunsets with and such. Things that people that really know you would know about you anyway. It's just a way in our not-so-close close world of internet we can get to know each other really fast without wading through the day to day muck of relationships. Anyway, I never really know what to put on those things. I just put the usual pieces of me... I like vanilla ice cream and watching sunsets with my husband (I know I'm boring)... But though 1,000 people may read my survey, will they ever know me? The real me? And now we're back to square one... I'm left feeling like the rich young ruler. Confused and saddened. "You mean I can't just follow you dragging all my pieces, Jesus?" Who is that "me" exactly? Well, I've got a good list. Things I do. I'm a Christ-follower, a wife and mother, a homeschool teacher, a housekeeper, etc... But these are my pieces. Most days I walk through life deluded thinking these pieces are who I really am. The sum of the pieces. Especially if one of these pieces is ever removed. Man, does that shake me up. Don't take away one of my pieces! That's who I am! Right? And to take that away meant I was no longer whole right? Because I am the sum, and now I don't add up. There can be the viewpoint also of feeling the missing piece and knowing you don't have it yet. I don't have that home I want...yet... I'm not plugged into a ministry to use this gift... yet... I still don't have that car... yet... We can always feel not quite whole whether something has been released, taken away, or we just haven't received it yet. I've realized, that's when those things are edging into an idol position. Why is it that we need something tangible to see? To chase them down, hold up and show someone, "Here, I found it. This is who I am!" Something tangible to worship. We were reading to the kids today about when Moses came down from the mount from 6 weeks with God. You want to talk about a mountaintop experience... And then he sees the Israelites dancing around the golden calf. And got so mad he shattered the tablets of God's law. All it took was 6 weeks, the one they had been following, Moses (to some their idol) was gone. What are they going to do? Who can they see to worship? That was back in the days when everyone saw their gods. Most of them were statues. Exciting, I bet many of those statues laid down their lives... uhhh... Say the Israelites had been asked the question by an introspective Egyptian, "Who are you?" "Uhhh... I'm a Hebrew, I worship a God that you can't see. I'm a brick maker... That's about it." They would be reaching for their household gods to show them. Some thoughts:
Job 17:11 -
My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.
Ps 37:4 -
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Eph 4:22 -
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
Ro 12:3 -
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
1Ti 6:6 -
But godliness with contentment is great gain.

And my absolute favorite verse of all time:

Gal 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

You may wonder where I'm going with this... We are so much more than just pieces. Than just fulfilled and unfulfilled desires. Woman, you are still a woman if you lose all of your hair. Man, you are still a man if you've lost your job. Note Gal. 2:20 "I NO LONGER LIVE, BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME." He has redeemed the pieces of our lives. We are definitely not our pieces, our little hobbies and facets of our life that tend to define us. We are not the sum, we are whole. We have been replaced, you see. I still don't know what to say exactly the next time some artsy poet asks me who I am, but I do know that I can confidently say, "I don't know who I am, really. That's not as important as the fact that Christ fills me, and that's all I need."