Saturday, October 26, 2013

When you want to know who you really are

"He is the one who can tell us the reason for our existence, our place in the scheme of things, our real identity. It is an identity we can't discover for ourselves, that others can't discover in us--the mystery of who we really are. How we have chased around the world for answers to that riddle, looked in the eyes of others for some hint, some clue, hunted in the multiple worlds of pleasure and experience and self-fulfillment for some glimpse, some revelation, some wisdom, some authority to tell us our right name and our true destination. 
"But there was, and is, only One who can tell us this: the Lord himself. And he wants to tell us, he has made us to know our reason for being and to be led by it. But it is a secret he will entrust to us only when we ask, and then in his own way and in his own time. He will whisper it to us not in the mad rush and fever of our striving and our fierce determination to be someone, but rather when we are content to rest in him, to put ourselves into his keeping, into his hands. Most delightfully of all, it is a secret he will tell us slowly and sweetly, when we are willing to spend time with him; time with him who is beyond all time."

--Emilie Griffin, Clinging--The Experience of Prayer

This is what abiding does, if we stay with Him and do not wander away as we are so prone to do. All the questions, all the wondering about who we really are, all the answers to all the mysteries are found in Him.

He knows our true name. He understands the deep longings, the secrets written within us that we feel no one will ever comprehend. In Him we become our true selves, who we were meant to be. 

But discovering ourselves in Him is a journey and a choice. He waits for us, but He does not force the way. We are free to come or not. 

But until we do, we will never really know ourselves.


Day 26 of Abide: 31 Days of Resting in Him

1 comment:

  1. How true, and simple, and yet counter-intuitive for us. We feel that we must strive to uncover what is in here, and that it is up to us to figure out who we really are and what we are to be about in this world. We were His idea, to begin with, and how beautiful that He knows our true name. "In Him we become our true seles, who we were meant to be." Looking within without looking to Him would be chasing shadows. I"m sad that October is coming to an end, because I want to keep reading your blog daily. Any challenge in the works for November?

    ReplyDelete