Nice, neat, pretty packages.
We love them, we work hard on them, that’s what we want to give away.
Definitions set parameters…they are safe, secure and have clear boundary lines. But it is with concerned transparency that I pen this blog today. Concern that in the name of determining the definition of ourselves we have totally missed an inheritance. Striving so hard to be something we are not that we miss a gift being handed to us.
Definitions, translated to roles in our lives, are something we create and take on. We may put them on like a luxurious fur and wear them to ward off the harsh cold around us. Or we may put them on like a tough leather jacket, road worn yet a protective layer. Then there is the role that defines us like a tattered, worn out robe, not seen as worthy to go out into the world but wraps us in the safety and security of sameness and familiar. Some will even wear the role of expensive, well crafted business suit so put together they are seemingly invincible, yet isolated and insulated from the world around them.
We love the definitions and the roles. Culture sets definitions to keep us in order, to fill needs and to make life seemingly work in a harmonious hierarchy of humans. They give us boundaries and safety, provide authority, they are nice, neat packages of humanity.
But what if the very thing we embrace to keep us safe and secure is the very thing that is stifling the very life breath from us? What if these defined roles are what we put on and not who we are but simply a guise to keep us from realizing our full potential and inheritance?
No matter what your level of belief, anyone can see historically that Jesus was not defined by a role or a title. Those around wanted him to fit in their neat package of king or warrior, and yet he did not. You see, by putting on the robe of a king or taking up the shield of a warrior he would have limited the audience thus coming short of the destiny set before him. The only title he took on was “son” thereby aligning himself with the inheritance that came with that title. He did not allow the opinion of others or the limits they tried to place on him to change his position as son. He walked in a way worthy of his inheritance thus walking in that full power and authority.
Well, you will say, that was Jesus. Yes, but the truth is, that is also us.
By allowing the definitions of others or experiences in our past to define our roles we limit who we were created to be. Jesus cancelled the separation so that now we can embrace our full inheritance an sons and daughters of the Father. You see, inheritance is given and not earned and here is where tense struggle is. Jesus had no struggle as he embraced the inheritance, not the role or definition of others. We wrestle with the very things we “robe” ourselves with as the are truly ill-fitting garments that are not the robes tailor-made for our unique selves.
We all have a soul cry for something more. There is a cry deep within that balks at the limits and wants so desperately to live free, to throw off the ill-fitting garments and take up the custom fitted ones. We yearn for our minds to be unlimited, to move unhindered by walls and boundaries and to be aligned with something far greater than ourselves.
Redefining, realigning, allowing ourselves to be renamed…all tough, vulnerable and uncomfortable.
The great ones who went before us all walked through the same struggle, believing and wearing the roles placed or spoken by others. Yet when they allowed the robes to fall away they found the freedom and peace to run and follow something far greater than they could ever hope, dream or imagine.
Destiny came in their sight.
What is your soul cry? What heavy role are you walking in or hiding behind? In “casting off all that hinders us” we can take up our true selves and wear robes of freedom and inheritance as sons and daughters. Or we can conform and be defined by the opinions and mindsets of others in the world.
The choice is always ours…but we will make one.
Heavy or light? Free or slave?
Is it well with your soul? You choose…
Blessings and peace….
Dee
Soulife 