You

"She said 'If we're gonna make this work
You gotta let me inside even though it hurts
Don't hide the broken parts that I need to see'
She said 'Like it or not it's the way it's gotta be
You gotta love yourself if you can ever love me'

-Lifehouse "Whatever It Takes"



"Evey Hammond: Who are you?
V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what, and what I am is a man in a mask.
Evey Hammond: Well I can see that.
V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation, I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is."

-from the movie "V for Vendetta"

"Love your neighbor as yourself."

-Jesus (Matthew 22:39)





The truth is that it was just a breakup...but it felt like so much more. "Just a breakup!". She thinks. Jonie put her world into him. She didn't feel like she mattered until she met him. The fact that he didn't treat her well was beside the point. She mattered now. He mattered to people. She was with him. She mattered to people. The real truth was...she didn't matter to him. The question "Who am I?" was so lost....in a thick fog.

Tony was a great athlete. A fierce fighter. Every time he knocked out some other hopeless boxer, he could feel the anger from the punches he took when he was younger. He knew then, it was either him...or his mom...or his younger sister. His dad has pursued healing roads and had softened up immensely. It make Tony even more angry. His career was taking off...his heart was leather...his wife knew the real truth and often paid for it. The pulse of forgivness was beating deep beneath the leather veneer of his heart. "What was he like before the anger?" He wondered privately. "Who am I?" swam below the surface.

How much energy have I spent in my life at "impression management"? Why did I do it? I didn't like what God made. The truth is that I'm still coming to value the creation of me. It's a process. On clear days, I'm confident, light-hearted, and loving. On foggy days, I'm timid, unsure, and second guessing myself. I've had clearer days lately. I've noticed that the comparison road is a subtle one. It can start as a suggestion on a foggy day and lead to a personal melt-down. I think that road can vary for each person. What I'm learning is that it matters immensely to not give life to those voices that would dare to compare. God doesn't want me to be anything or anyone other that me...the real me. Beneath the crap...the lies...the veneer...the layers...whatever it is for you...God wants you to be you. That's how things are supposed to work. I'm supposed to be me. You're supposed to be you. Jesus is supposed to be fully Jesus (which He was). Jonie is supposed to be Jonie. Tony is supposed to be the real Tony. The eternal idea is that when you are you...you make things better. Life happens. Light happens. Love happens.

I hear so many stories of people who've been told that God is in the clone-making business. That they should be the prototype. The way they dress. The way they talk. The way they sneeze. Yada...yada...yada. How freaking boring and uncreative! Jesus was truly himself and he lived 30 years as a son and an obscure carpenter. He spent 3 years telling people, in his way, about who God really was and showing them. A lot of people who thought they had God figured out didn't like it or him...they ultimately killed him.

May you be who you truly are! May you work through all of the things in life that have been built on your heart of body or life that would make that journey of discovery harder. May you surround yourself with people and community who bring the real you...out. May you begin to ask how things would change in the world if you were yourself. May you quit playing the comparison game. The truth is no one wins in the comparison game...no one. Everyone gets devalued. Period. May you realize what God realized then and still belives today when He said "It is good!"

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."

-Barack Obama

"Evey Hammond: I don't want you to die.
V: That's the most beautiful thing you could have ever given me."

-from the movie "V for Vendetta"