Whenever I have a speaking engagement I am usually asked to submit a “short bio” for the publicity information. I have a fairly standard few pieces of information I send but I still struggle with what to say. What do people want to know about me? What is relevant to the audience I will be speaking to and how do I best describe myself? I’m not the only one that struggles with this. All over social media I see people doing quizzes and answering questions about themselves and others. Coke or Pepsi? How many surgeries? Favorite season? I saw a link yesterday that asked you to pick from four options of fingernail shape and then the link would tell you about your personality. We want to be known and we want to know others but we often have difficulty when it comes to using the best words to express our “us-ness” (yes, I make up words to suit my purposes!).

Perhaps part of the problem is that we aren’t really sure who we are. Are we what we do? Are we what we like and dislike? Are we who we love? Are we what other people tell us we are? Are we the person we show to the world? Are we the person on the inside that hides away? Can we find ourselves in a quiz or a personality profile? The waters get muddy quickly, don’t they? Unfortunately we take too many cues from what others think of us and say about us and I mean, let’s be honest, we make decisions about other people all the time based on the options I just listed. Where do we turn for the truth?

Inward. We turn inward. No one ever finds their true identity from the world. I do believe that once we find our true identity we can live it out in the world but it is something that must be nurtured and cherished and only shared with those who would guard it and protect it and nurture it as well. One of the greatest treasures we receive from walking hand in hand with Jesus Christ is His revelation to us of who we were always meant to be. In other words, we will find our true selves in Christ alone. It is His work to sort through the broken shards of our false selves and put them in a pile next to the truths that He reveals during the long journey from our heads to our hearts. Once Jesus has juxtaposed the lies with the truth it is up to us to choose. And every day we do choose. Some days we choose well and embrace who Jesus says we are but some days we have to admit that we are more interested in people-pleasing.

I’ve been looking at those piles in my life for many years now and more and more often I choose His truth. The more I embrace the truth of who He says I am, the less I am interested in looking at the broken pieces. In fact, many a time He lovingly extracts one of those broken shards from my heart completely. The further I go with Jesus into wholeness, the further I want to go. If you want to know others and be known by them, it has to be with the true self. If you only give and receive the facades then you will live in the murky area of fear and mistrust. Jesus gives us the freedom to be real, give real, receive real, and love real.

Just recently I have been enjoying a new word to describe myself and it fits quite well. Perhaps you might find it to be a good fit with you as well. Feel free to use it to describe yourself as often as you like. It is the word “becoming”. It feels like an old flannel shirt or my favorite pair of jeans. I feel right when I put it on, like I’ve come home. “Becoming” is always active and always present. It is a willingness to embrace change and trusting the One who is doing the changing. It is humble but exciting and rife with possibility. It is a journey with no end. It is life with Jesus and it is very very good.

Hi My name is Kris Vannice and I am becoming.

And you are?………

(By the way, if you aren’t familiar with the word I chose as the title of this post you might want to look it up before you leave this reading. It’s a good one.)