Who Am I?

 Who am I? That’s not as easy a question to answer as it first appears. Depending on who you ask, depending on how you look at my life, I can have different identities, and so do you. I am husband, father, grandfather, neighbour, friend, mentor, minister, school chum, and colleague. I’m the exact same person but I am experienced in different ways. Sounds a lot like the way we experience God as one, but as Creator, Saviour, and Spirit. As Way, Truth, and Life. As Good Shepherd, Saviour, and Comforter.  

Who am I? That also depends on what stage of life I am at. Today I am a senior, a pensioner, a retiree. At other times I was a child, a teenager, a university student, a newly wed, a parent, a grandparent. Of course, I am the same person at the core of my being, but I have experienced life differently as I have moved through the stages of life. 

 When I retired from congregational ministry after forty plus years, I had to think seriously about my “identity”, as many retired people have to do. So often our identity, especially as males, is tied to what we do (or did) in our working life, rather than on who we are as a person. As I asked myself “Who am I?” I understood once again that my identity as a Christian is ultimately in my relationship with God. In response, I wrote this prayer. Hopefully it will help you to reflect on who you are. 

 I stood by a frozen river and looked up at the majestic mountain peaks, and wondered, “O God, Who am I, that you would pay attention to me?” 

 I stood by the vast ocean and looked out at the ever rolling waves and wondered, “O God, Who am I, that you would pay attention to me?”  

I stood in a sea of golden grain, and looked over prairie fields that had no end and wondered, “O God, Who am I, that you would pay attention to me?”  

I stood sheltered from a storm, And looked around as trees bent in the wind and wondered, “O God, Who am I, that you would pay attention to me?”  

I stood before you, Lord and looked inside and saw my faults and failings and wondered,  “O God, Who am I, that you would pay attention to me?”  

I stood and waited in the silence and heard you voice. “You are my child. That’s who you are. You are precious to me. Wonder know more”.  

Thank you, God, my Creator.

Amen.

 © Neal Mathers