Just don't call me late for dinner

"Christ is all, and in all"

Colossians 3:11

Who are you?

How do you define yourself?

What's your "label"?

We love to label.  Both others, and ourselves.  "That's my son."  "I'm an artist."  "We're high-school sweethearts."

But we don't necessarily like to be labeled by others.  Often, that's because the labels are negative:  cheater, gossip, ex-con...  But sometimes those labels others give us are something we're comfortable with, except for the fact that that's not all we are.  Like the 7-foot tall high-school basketball player who'd really rather be in the drama club.

I think we do it for simplicity.  We label someone, and then we can put in the rolodex of our heads where we think they belong.   {Does anyone have rolodexes anymore?}  But unfortunately, when we label someone, we tend to lump them in with everyone who wears that label.  This might make us reluctant to think of ourselves as "environmentalists" even if God has give us a special love for nature and the animal inhabitants of this planet.  Or how about "feminist"?  It used to mean someone who thought women should have equal rights in the workplace and in the eyes of the law.  Now, it seems to have the connotation of someone who feels that women are superior to men.   Very few people seem to call themselves feminists anymore.

Labels are simple.  And sometimes wrong.  We are more than what we are labeled.   Republican.   Democrat.  Recovering alcoholic.  Cancer survivor.  Unemployed.  Dentist.  Surfer.  Writer.  Artist.  Engineer.  Sinner.  Forgiven.  Lost.  Found.

Be who you are.  Be all of who you are.  And be all that He created you to be.

~ "There is neither Jew nor Greek, 

neither slave nor free, neither male nor female; 

for you are all one in Christ Jesus" ~ 

Galatians 3:28