I had a big scare this morning. As I'm sure you can relate to, my computer updates itself and restarts itself every week or two, usually in the middle of the night. It always messes me up a bit because I have to remember all the working documents I had open and webpages and so on but it's usually not a big deal. But this morning when I went to reopen my documents and webpages there was nothing there! I then checked my photos and ITunes and...nothing. I opened Microsoft Outlook and it began walking me through the steps to set up my account - all my emails and addresses were gone - yikes!
I panicked because I rely heavily on the information on my computer, especially email addresses. So I phoned my computer volunteer right away hoping he could help me but he did not answer. As I stared at my blank desktop I thought about what might have happened and what, if anything, I could do about it. Suddenly it dawned on me; "What if I'm not signed into my account/screen?!" Sure enough the computer had restarted itself and opened the admin account/screen instead of mine. I signed out of the admin screen and signed into my screen and there was all my stuff - phew! If you're a computer whiz reading this you probably can't believe something this small and obvious would throw me off, but it has restarted itself dozens of times but never opened to the admin screen; I was really scared I had lost everything.
As I went on with my day I thought about how many people I meet with who have experienced this not with their computer but with their life. Many people I meet with have lost themselves. They're not sure exactly when or how it happened but somewhere along the way they've lost their grounding, lost their faith, lost everything they once knew about themselves. My computer mishap this morning reminds me that they haven't truly lost themselves, they just think they have or they've forgotten who they truly are. The True Self is the self that God-created - the part of us that is created in His image full of goodness and purpose. This part of us never truly leaves us because God is always with us but we sometimes wander away from God, stop listening to His voice and following His presence within us - we go our own way and follow a path that's not really ours. Like my computer, everything within us that is God-ordained since He breathed life into us is still there. Love, truth, wisdom, grace, light and life is still there and still accessible, we just have to click over to our screen/account rather than defaulting to someone else's. Obviously this isn't as easy with humans as clicking a computer button but it can be done.
As we draw closer to God and begin listening to Him and following His presence within us we not only find Him but we find ourselves in the process. We get closer to Him and closer to ourselves at the same time because we are in God and God is in us. We are created in His image for His good purpose and all of that is breathed into us but we need to be "signed in" to the right view to see it.
To remember literally means to re-member, the opposite of dismember. When we become dismembered, so to speak - scattered, dismantled, torn apart or led astray - God gives us the opportunity to re-member, to bring together that which was has become lost. And the amazing thing about His love is He not only gives us that opportunity but He does it with us and for us through His grace and power.
Remembering who we truly are in Christ and who God created us to be takes time. Making sure we're "signed in on the correct profile" takes time. All of this involves slowing down rather than rushing through our days taking on other peoples' expectations and identities and forgetting our own.
God bless you this week.
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