By Miriam Rossow
Monday’s are often hard. The weekends tend to be busy or at least without the same kind of schedule. My children never want to wake up on Monday and I neither do I! This Monday should have been easier as I had the weekend ‘off as a mom’.
I was at a retreat for Pastor’s Wives and Deaconesses. I was able to find support from these fellow pastor wives and give support. I was able to sing praises and grow closer to my God and to these women who serve in a capacity similar to mine. We were able to laugh, contemplate, and even cry together.
Even though I had this refreshing weekend I still found Monday to be difficult. Maybe this is because of the gray sky, rain, and cold temperatures. Maybe it was because everyone else was finding it difficult to return to the weekday mode. And maybe it was just because I was switching roles again. I was ‘switching’ between my identities.
I am a mother. I am a co-worker. I am a daughter. I am a daughter-in-law. I am a sister. I am a sister-in-law. I am wife. I am a leader. I am a pastor’s wife. I am a choir director. I am a teacher. I am blog writer. I am a house maker. I am cook. I am a chauffeur. I am friend. I am a neighbor. I am many things and often many of these go hand in hand and sometimes these identities find themselves at odds with each other. Sometimes these identities change or go away as time and life changes.
I am a mother. I am a co-worker. I am a daughter. I am a daughter-in-law. I am a sister. I am a sister-in-law. I am wife. I am a leader. I am a pastor’s wife.
I realized this weekend that anyone of these or all of these identities could change instantly. Although I will always be a daughter or mother, I will not always have my parents or children around and with me. My role in society has changed numerous times and I have had to change and find how I fit in to each new identity that I find attached to me.
I realized this weekend that anyone of these or all of these identities could change instantly.
Just like changing from my ‘relaxed’ weekend role to my more scheduled weekday role is difficult. I find changing societal roles difficult as well.
I am a Child of God. It is this one identity that does not change. In my baptism God sought me out and grabbed a hold of me and promised to call me His forever. My identity in Christ will never change. And I can see all my other roles or identities through the identity of Christ.
I am a Child of God.
As I go about my daily and sometime seasonal roles of mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend, pastor’s wife, or co-worker I can lean on my identity as a Child of God. And in that identity I find forgiveness when I mess up. In my identity as a Child of God I find grace when I can’t do it all. In my identity through Christ I find a kind of love that is like none other.
Christ searched me out as a precious jewel and bought for me with His love a gift that will not fade; the gift of His kingdom, the gift of being a Child of God.
In my identity as a Child of God I find grace when I can’t do it all.
As I cling to my identity in Christ I also cling to the promise that I have been connected or cemented to His death and resurrection. The song This Dust by Kip Fox is a beautiful song encompassing the reality that in Jesus’ victory over death He has won that victory for us also.
In my identity through Christ I find a kind of love that is like none other.
As I go about my day to day business and my day to day identities I can look at all of them through the eyes of Jesus and see love, forgiveness, and grace beyond measure! Remind me who I am Lord in you!
