“The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” - Richard J. Foster
To live deeply at its core comes from knowing who and whose you are. It is most often simply followed up by the assurance of whose you are, which is that you are created and loved by God. The harder question here and one that is important to wrestle with is knowing who you are.
Many people try to define who they are by saying what they do. I for a long time have been guilty of this myself. When I was in High School I told people "I am a runner" or " I am a Christian" both of which were true but neither spoke of who I am as a unique individual. As my life circumstances changed so the the answer to the question: Who are you?
It makes it difficult to live very deeply when your identity changes with each new job or new season of life. Perhaps you have experienced the frustration of spinning your wheels on the question of who you are. Perhaps you still identify yourself by what you do. Perhaps you don't think there is anything wrong with that way of living.
As my professor Ruben Habito likes to remind us "We are Human-Beings, not Human-Doings."
I not to long ago found the answer to the question for me, and it has been a game changer. Through lots of prayer and self reflection, aided by a personality test that I understood in a new way, I figured out what makes me uniquely me. Since then I have been more at peace with myself. I have been less afraid of taking risks, less in need of being a "people pleaser." I have been free to be my authentic self more instead of just doing what I felt others expected me to do. I have become free to live more deeply. My identity will no longer change with the seasons of life.
Knowing who you are is just as important as knowing whose you are. If it takes you time away from the tasks of your day or your week, if it takes away from time you would spend doing almost anything else, spend and be spent figuring out who you are and it will be one of the greatest accomplishments of your life. There is no simple formula for figuring out what makes you you. I can only stress the importance of doing it.
If you are blessed to know the answer to this question for you, leave your answer in the comments below and use it to encourage others.
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