There’s
this funny thing that everyone, and I mean everyone, likes to do. Label. We put
a label on everything. No one is innocent. We all like to label places, actions,
objects, even people. We even label ourselves in this aimless attempt to come
up with some form of a personal identity. Everyone asks the same question, “Who
am I?” Everyone also wants a simple answer, as if one word could sum up all of
the labels into one.
I think
I’ve found that word: Me.
Don’t get
me wrong. I still have to use labels to describe myself to other people. If
they ask me what I want to be, I say, “writer” and if they ask me what I do, I
say, “student.” If they ask me my age, I say, “teenager” and if they ask me my
faith, I say, “Christian.” The truth is though, that not a single one of those
responses makes up who I am entirely. Not one.
Personally,
I’ve always struggled with this whole identity business. For example, I’m
Hispanic, but I’m also American. I always joke by saying that I’m too Hispanic
for Americans and too American for Hispanics. I tried to pick which side I
belonged to the most, but the truth is that I’m both, and I’ve had to come to
terms with that.
Once I realized that neither label
could stand alone to fulfill my identity, I began to think about how no label
at all could describe me. It made me wonder about my identity. It made me ask
myself, “Who am I?”
Then, when
the campus ministries at my school came together last week for a concert with
the exact theme of “Who Am I?” I thought about this even more. The topic was
about having an identity in Christ as God’s children. It got me thinking and I think
I’ve come up with a conclusion I can accept.
God loves me for who I am, not for
what society tells me to be or says I am, not even for what I say I am. No
matter what, I’m His, and I’m not His as a Hispanic or as an American. I’m not
His as a writer or as a student. I’m not His as a teenager or even as a
Christian. I’m just His as me.
Now, “me”
is made up of a numerous amount of labels, given to me by others, as well as
myself. Separately, not a single one can even come close to describing who I
truly am, but together they come just a little bit closer. The truth is though,
when it comes to my identity, the only word that can faithfully sum up all of
who I am is, “me.”
I’m “me”
and if that’s good enough for God, well, then that’s just good enough for me
too.
