Remember how important it seems to be known?
I've started noticing this new phenomena of NOT being known. I'm sure some of you can identify.
This weekend, I found myself in a room of brand new people, only a few of which had ever laid eyes on me before. We began the ritual dance of getting-to-know you questions and casual laughs displaying our friendliness. It was nice.
But as we sat around playing board games, I realized all the things these people did NOT know me for. They didn't know me as "that Vanderbilt grad." They didn't know me as "that girl who lived in Namibia." They didn't know me as "the Chicagoan" or "the music major" or "the girl with only one parent." And even after answering their questions, I was still only known as "the girl who works at the nonprofit."
How do I identify myself? (good question for 2012, right?) In my About Me section, I describe myself as a twentysomething...Christian...musician...traveler...optimist...and more. Others have pegged me by my alma mater, my neighborhood, my career, or my friends. Even growing up, I was known in some way - as a kid from Henking/Hoffman, as someone who went to GCC, as Sue McGee's daughter.
As we venture out into unchartered waters and travel around the States and world as adults, we are increasingly NOT known, and the things by which we've been identified all our lives suddenly become obsolete.
How do we continue to introduce ourselves to people who do not know us? How do I want to be peripherally known as an adult?
That's a great question and a great reflection. It's kind of like asking, how will people remember me after I die, although not exactly the same. For me, I will not be satisfied with my life unless people knew and remembered that I loved God, and that I loved Him more than anything.
ReplyDeleteThank you for being a beautiful witness to that, my friend! I miss and love you!
Beautifully put, Laura! Miss you.
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