Donald Miller, author of The New York Times best seller, Blue Like Jazz - a man, by his own admission who used to be depressed, overweight, and at one point in his journey lost absolutely everything, is now living as a hero on a mission, which just happens to be the title of his upcoming book. But I’m not here to sell a book. He has a practice he has built into his life more recently, where he reads his own obituary to himself every day. For him, it has a way of clarifying, not so much what he hopes to accomplish in his life, but who he wants to become.
As we stare into the upcoming abyss 😳 which is 2022, I think it behooves us to take a deeper look than simply our next set of New Year’s resolutions to lose the weight, binge less, be with family more, or fatten up our bank accounts, and begin - with the end in mind. Yep, that’s right, the end - as in the end of our life.
Now that might sound a little bit morbid at first but believe me. If you actually took the time to sit down and write what you want your obituary to read, it can give you tremendous clarity about the kind of person you want to be.
You will not be remembered by your accomplishments by those who matter to you most. You will be remembered by who you are to them.
The Scriptures actually encourage us to number our days. Those are not just empty words. They are there for a reason.
Now, we could just leave you right there numbering your days, trying to reconcile who you want to be with who you currently are or who you feel you’ve been, defining yourself by current losses or past mistakes. But there’s actually something even deeper we want to consider.
Who are you already are, is perhaps something you have lost touch with. Or sight of. Or perhaps have never truly known. What we can tell you is this. Your past successes and failures do not dictate this.
A deeper dig into ancient biblical texts has much to say about who you already are. And whether you realize it or not, your life is destined for a collision course of congruence with your identity that was given to you by a divine designer, not some unknown configuration left to horoscopes and Jenny Craig.
So rather than just trying to define who you are going to become through your own efforts, perhaps it’s time to discover the identity you’ve already been given, and begin the trek to who you already are.
The question is, are you ready?