I am all over again........ or.... stuff I learned at Sunday school.

Everyone else is taken you know.  What is left is to become who you are.  No one else is YOU.  You can be YOU!  Go for it!

Did you know that God's real name is "I Am Who I Am?"  He's the original "I Am."  

Not Sam who likes green eggs and ham. He's the original Sam I Am. 

Not Popeye the Sailorman ..... He's the original "I yam's what I yams...."  

Not that Joe guy who rants about being "I AM CANADIAN...."   

I bet the Old Spice Guy thinks he's the one........ but oh, No! 

God's the original, authentic "I AM" I didn't know that.  I missed that lesson......... good to be catching up!

When you stand in front of the mirror, who do you see?  Do you really take a good look, or like me most of the time, do you let your eyes get that blurry gaze over while you fix your hair or brush your teeth, or put your make up on, pluck errant hairs, check for spinach in your teeth........ do you ever get the courage to truly look at the image of yourself with a non-critical loving eye and say........ "I am who I am."  Usually when I get the courage to have a good look, I end up flummoxed over the fact that this face of mine has altered over the years.  Same spark in the eye, except the skin on the lids have expanded in the most peculiar way.....!  And I lose my way to seeing me as I am.  Or accepting it fully.

The gift we have been given by God is to become ourselves .... Our job is learn this.  Our way of living faith is to BE who we are.  Everyone else is taken.   But, what if I am who I am and you don't like who I am?  What then?  I have nothing left to give.  The dwelling of discarded beings.  I hate visiting there.

God is the authentic  "I Am That I Am."   He told Moses that through a very frightening burning bush episode after Moses asked God what he should say to be believed when he went into town to try to save the Israelites  all those years ago.  Moses was afraid (and rightly so... who wouldn't be??) he wouldn't be able to carry out this enormous task without some backup insurance from God. 

It's all we have.  It's all that matters.  Who we are.  Who we are becoming.  Stripped down bare, with no material goodies around us.........with no uniform or favourite jewelry.  With no gold gilted ornaments.  Take away the roles, the responsibilities, the never ending "TO DO" list.  Empty the contents of your briefcase, purse, backpack, wheelie luggage......... dump it out!  With  no stuff.  Take away the stuff and the fluff we nest in, what we have is "Who we Are...."

So how do we learn the lessons of who we are at this given moment in our lives?  How do we struggle against the tide of others who want to reform you into something they want you to be?  What if you're constantly in situations where who you are just doesn't fit into the grander scheme of things made up by people who are fearful of allowing themselves to shine from their own light?  

Of course we have to adapt.  In order to function, fit, be accepted, we must bend a bit all the while being cognizant of the fact that OTHERS are doing the best they can being WHO they are.  We are a community of humans whose lives blend and weave together, whose lives clash in colour, whose personalities poke holes in the fabric of another.  AH!  But we are a community of potential too..... the learning of who we are happens most frequently through the interactions with others.  They are our daily mirrors. 

Interestingly, we learn more about who we are when we are facing our own "burning bushes."   Now what beautiful human becoming in my life said............ "Growth does not reside in a place called Comfortable????"   Ah, yes!   THIS HUMAN!  

We learn about ourselves and "who we are" in the middle of diversity.

That's when we are the most stripped down bare.

Luckily  (i'm being optimistic) we are given these fire breathing moments frequently that alter our awareness, our life paths, our existance.  Its how we interpret, respond, reflect and learn from them that sears away the fancy dress and decorations and drops us in a place of vulnerable existentialism.

I am who I am....

Not Sam I am

Not Pam I am

Not Will.I.Am.

Not Joe I Am.

Not PipWisdom I am...

Not Anyone else I am

Not Popeye the Sailorman I yam.....

Just ME I am.  

I am me......... created in His image, learning how to share the gifts I have been given through the firey events I have been privy to.   And you are you.    Pretty humbling stuff.  You know, I'm thinking we better continue on this faith journey of discovery because the original I AM wants his image shining bright.  :)