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Hello, my name is your name and I am a ___________. How would you fill in the second blank?

Widow, single, mother, grandmother, housewife, stay at home mom, employee, etc.?

Oh how I hate labels. They can be so limiting! It doesn’t matter if they are something that we perceive as good like being a wife, mother, grandmother, or if it is something that we see as a negative like being a diabetic, a senior citizen, or a widow. All of them can limit our thinking. The label or role becomes a self-defining box and everything we say or do and even feel, gets stuck in that box.

And then we draw another box, a slightly larger box and we put God in it. We have to – because if we are limited – then by default He is limited. In essence, we have decided there is only so much He can do with us. We just put the Great I AM, the Alpha and Omega, the Lord Almighty in a box. Sounds crazy when we look at it that way doesn’t it?

When we first lose our husbands, it feels like our whole world has disappeared. The pain is unbearable and we can barely breathe. When the shock begins to wear off, we look around and we feel utterly exposed. We no longer know who we are or what our future holds. Becoming a widow is the most disorienting experience we will probably ever encounter.

But eventually it can also bring clarity. The purpose of our life wasn’t just to be a wife, even as wonderful as that might be. Being a wife is a role we fulfill, but it isn’t our purpose. Our purpose is to glorify God and that happens in many different roles throughout our life: single, married, widowed, with children, without children, etc. As we begin to remember (or perhaps understand for the first time) our purpose is bigger than in any one role we fulfill, we begin to dismantle the box we’ve been living in and along with it, the box we put God in.

As our thinking shifts from the temporary roles we assume on this Earth to our eternal purpose we find ourselves planted on solid ground which can never be shaken or turned upside down. It redefines who we are in the most powerful way possible. With my eyes on my eternal purpose it is easier to see the many roles I fulfill as spelled out in scripture.

Hello, my name is your name and I am…

An heir of God – Galatians 4:7

A child of God – John 1:12

A friend of God – John 15:15

God’s masterpiece – Ephesians 2:10

God’s dwelling place – Ephesians 2:22

Will you join me today in mediating on our eternal roles so we can be utilized to our full capacity for God’s glory?

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for making us in Your image, for Your purposes. Help us to see ourselves and each other through Your eyes. As we meditate on Your word today, please allow Your truth to pierce our hearts, eradicate the self defined boxes we have put on ourselves and You, and let us walk forward in freedom to live to our full capacity for Your Glory! We love You so! In Your Sons name. Amen.