Identity
by me
I got as a gift a necklace with a religious symbol. Wearing it I feel exposed. It’s so different than it was 10+ years ago. I had that same symbol, a larger one actually, proudly displayed around my neck. I was an in your face kind of gal. I wrapped myself up in all sorts of layers of my identity. And I hid behind them all. It was a construct. A construct I believed in, but a construct no less. I felt safe and powerful. Fast forward 10+ years and I no longer wish to display who I am. I no longer want that kind of attention, or any kind of attention really. And wearing that symbol makes me feel naked. It’s no one’s business what religion I am. My religion is private, personal and I want to decide when and with whom I share that information. I can’t really do that with it hanging around my neck.
No “Jesus loves you” bumper sticker. No chrome – plated fish on the trunk lid. If I cut someone off on the freeway, by accident or on purpose, I don’t want to carry around that kind of responsibility. “Those stupid Christians are alike. They don’t know how to drive and they are all hypocrites anyway!”
You don’t need to know my relationship with God or that I even have one – a God or a relationship with Him, anymore than you need to know I like my neighbors, or that my wife is dead.
But there is a place for that. If you know that I live alone, if you know I have grandchildren, then maybe you should know I also have a God who loves me.