I recently read something that I wanted to pass along to you since it was so powerful. It, in essence, said,
“What you do does not determine who you are.
Who you are determines what you do.”*
Think on that a moment. Maybe you’ve all gotten down that simple truth, but sometimes (as of late, especially) I get bogged down in the doing, the list-writing, the chores, the taking care of baby and I begin to feel like that is who I am. The problem with that (well, there are many problems with that, but one of them is) that if I fail or come up short in any of those things, I am a failure. Can’t get the baby to eat real food? Fail. Dishes still on the counter when my husband gets home? Fail. (I’m not advocating sitting around and resting on our laurels and reveling in just ‘being’ . . . just follow me here.)
The truth is, whether or not I finish my to-do list for the day, I am still a daughter of the King. I am a princess of the Most High God. I am loved and cared for by Him. THAT is who I am, not list-maker, baby-feeder, house-cleaner, errand-runner, present-maker.
Out of that knowledge, I worship God and serve his Son, Jesus, by doing those things. Jesus said, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you are doing it to me.” (Matthew 25:40) So mixing up something for the munchkin to (hopefully) eat becomes something I am doing for Jesus. You can put in whatever you do each day in that sentence. It is all for him—our hearts overflowing with the joy that he chose us and loves us and wants to be with us! He doesn’t hold up a measuring stick and yell, ”FAIL!” at us; if we are believers, He holds up the cross and says, “Perfect! My precious child, I love you!”
That is amazing.
*I originally sent this out as an email to a few friends and family and am not sure where I got the quote from—I believe I heard it from Christine Caine, but all of my searches have brought up different people. Apparently the thought is not new. 🙂
P.S. if you like this post, you might also enjoy my post about how Comparison Kills Creativity. Realizing that helps me stop the comparison lie right in its tracks!
