I was talking with a writing friend yesterday, and we agreed: this publishing business can be hard. It’s not for the weak or thin-skinned. The temptation to compare is always right there at the surface, and it’s pretty easy, with multiple social media channels and websites at our fingertips, to see the progress and success of others. It’s easy to look at ranks and numbers and shares and sales and conclude you don’t measure up, that you’re not enough, that you don’t possibly have a chance.
Late yesterday afternoon I sat on the front step with my Bible open on my lap. It’s unseasonably warm here in Nebraska – yesterday hit 74 degrees. I lay back on the still-winter-cool concrete, gazed up at the bare branches of the honey locust tree, and thought about the truth in Paul’s words to Timothy.
The truth is, when we lose sight of our primary identity, we lose ourselves.
It’s frightfully easy to do. The world is full of temptation. We can go from smooth sailing on calm seas to being tossed to and fro in the blink of an eye. Our culture cat-calls us, taunting us to lift our gaze and release our grasp from the anchor that grounds us. And when we do, we sink faster than a box full of rocks.
Yesterday I reminded my friend of who she is:
Beloved.
Cherished.
Wanted.
Enough.
I reminded her of her primary identity as a child of God.
And as I heard my own words ramble into her Voxer, I remembered and embraced this essential truth myself.
Paul’s right. When we ground ourselves in Christ, we remember who we are, and nothing – not numbers, not sales, not ranks or book contracts or advances — can diminish the power, security, and freedom in that.
There is a beautiful, rich, liberating simplicity in knowing who you are at your core. When you know first and foremost above all else that you are a beloved child of God, when you believe it to the tips of your fingers and the ends of your toes, you can be yourself – your unique, God-created, amazing self — with confidence, joy, and peace.
That’s my prayer for you this weekend, Lovelies — that you will know deep in the innermost part of your soul that you are loved, and that you will rejoice in the rich simplicity of that life-transforming truth.
Amen.
