Identity.

Spring Retreat 2009 - Identity

Watch this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewO5NWQ97sI

The first week of May we at Impact put on a retreat for our high school students.  Our theme this year, taken from one Whitney Settle, was 'You have to be a whole person before you can be half a relationship'.  Whitney's wise words, spoken while we were in high school ourselves have stuck with me since.

On the retreat we talked about your identity in terms of: physical, intellectual, emotional, social, & spiritual.  My talk was on your social makeup.  Thankfully this was not a solo mish, I had help from 2 far greater speakers than I.  Each team of speakers assigned to a different 'layer' did a fantastic job.  In fact, since then I have been thinking of identity in terms of my own life.

This video gripped me while I was still in high school myself.  Between the spotlights from my Dad's profession, the ones from being in leadership at church, my stance in the then called TAs, and all of the other areas of my life that kept me in front of people, I sometimes felt like I was putting on a show.  I would feel this strongly right after we'd go through a move, or right before we'd move when I first learned that we would have too.  I felt that everyone was watching me to see how I would handle the strain.  How was I supposed to react?  In hindsight, I think people would have supported my openly showing my true feelings but at the time I stuffed them down and pressed on, always keeping a smile on my face.

Only as I've grown up and grown into my roles in life, learning to chose them wisely and take them seriously have I stopped feeling like a performer.  I've also had to learn to stop pretending.  When I'm upset, I let myself be. When I'm happy, the whole world knows it.  I 'own' my identity now like I didn't know how before.

I love this video for both it's message and the artistic talent that went into the video itself.

It is good to be a whole person, though the journey was rough.

Love,

B