Laying Down the Fleece

"Responsibility does establish identity, but we are not responsible because of our identity; instead we have an identity because we are responsible." - Vaclav Havel

I posted this quote as a status for Twitter/Facebook for a while. Thinking it was not only poignant but actually fairly condemning. It reveals that most of my thinking has been backward concerning the various "identities" that have been bestowed upon me. I say bestowed because nearly all of them have come or been granted to me by God. Son, Husband, Father, Uncle, Pastor, etc. All of these things have been granted to me by God through many means (miracle of birth, favor of choice, you name it) and the more that is laid out before me, I am aware of the difference between "title" and "identity". Have parents, you're a son. Have a wife, you're a husband. Have children, you're a father. All of these remain titles though until you accept and live out the responsibility that you have been "called " to.

Os Guinness writes of the "biography question". The ever present "Who am I?" Am I just another person who fits into some pre-defined categories? Am I who I make myself to be? Am I who I am fated to be? The answer is that there are elements of the first three questions in the overall answer but it all falls flat without acknowledging He who seeks us out in the first place. He calls us. He calls me. I am who God calls me to be.

Well, at least that's the goal :) More later, I seem to be being "called" by my youngest son to come and play.