Many years ago I spent about a year in America. The plan was to be there for six weeks but I was a bachelor... And the American people were very nice... So I stayed.
Money was scarce but I wanted to travel and see as much as possible. Initially, I travelled by bus and ended up spending days with strangers. One trip from New York to Los Angeles took three days. No one else travelled the whole distance. I was the only person on the bus that spent three days without a shower but I'm sure I'm not the only one who knew it...
The trip became a merry-go-round of new people starting conversations with me asking the same questions again and again. What is your name? Where are you from? What do you do? Why do you do that? Where are you going? Partly because of the repetition, partly because the freedom of no one else knowing anything about me, I started wondering what else I could say?
Could I pretend to be an eccentric millionaire who travels by bus while his private jet is in for a service?
Or a rocket scientist?
Or a fighter pilot?
I never tried it. It was obvious to me that I would be caught in whatever pretence I attempted, in two seconds flat. However, every conversation with these same questions coming up, echoed in my heart. Who are you? What do you do? Why are you doing that?
At the time I was 30 years old. I had known from my high school years what I wanted to do and had done it with passion and purpose ever since that time. My days and weeks and months and years had just flowed continuously and I had been busy and under constant pressure for all those years. This was the first time in more than a decade that I had the opportunity to pause and consider who I am and what I am about.
It was like I had a box of blank business cards and I could fill anything in on it.
What would you fill in on yours? How long has it been since you paused and asked yourself some questions?
Another way to phrase this is the following. How would you complete the sentence:
I am ...
I am a father.
I am a husband.
I am ...
There should not be just one way to complete the sentence. You have many layers. Or many facets. And I think it would be good if you wrote them down and considered each very carefully. Someone may say, 'I am a father.' but he never spends any time with his children. If you write it down you should do it. If you want to be something you should pursue it. If it is part of who you are then, for goodness sake, do it well!
Don't let time pass you by and then wake up one day with regrets. Don't let life or circumstances be the lone voices in who you become. Choose and then exercise your choices!
Jesus set a great example in this regard. He made "I am ..." statements all the time. Just in the Gospel according to John, He makes seven strong statements.
- I am the bread of life. (John 6:35)
- I am the light of the world. (John 8:12)
- I am the door. (John 10:9)
- I am the good shepherd. (John 10:11)
- I am the resurrection and the life. (John 11:25)
- I am the way and the truth and the life. (John 14:6)
- I am the vine; you are the branches.(John 15:5)
Do you want to know Jesus? Study these statements and you will. Jesus was able to make huge decisions because He knew who He was. As a result, He fulfilled the highest possible purpose for His life.
I am convinced that if you can identify your top seven 'I am' statements your life will make a whole lot more sense. Your decision-making will be much easier. And the people around you will know and understand you a lot better, loving you more as a result.
Those statements will change as you grow and you need to pause and consider them every now and then. Try it! It will be helpful!
I would appreciate your contribution to these thoughts.
