Anyone who believes the statistic that only one percent of the population suffers from multiple personality disorder has never tried to be a parent, worker, spouse, bread-winner, cried on shoulder, best friend, junior league sports coach, dutiful child, Scout leader, bill payer, church goer, "one of the guys/girls", and engage in one or more of a zillion hobbies we can consumed by.
At work one beautiful day a gentleman who serves as a mentor/managers asked me "What do you enjoy doing?" His question was designed to get me clear on career goals and I sadly must admit to gasping like a fish out of water. My career has been "whatever needs doing" for so long that I couldn't really remember what I truly enjoyed.
That got me thinking, and reading, and studying. Soon I realized that I had been doing the "whatever needs doing" in my hobbies, relationships, and spare time. Things I once enjoyed were now just items on a rather long task list. Decent money has been spent on things that I thought I should be doing or sensed there was some vague need for.
Oh Lord, "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made..." (Psalm 139:14a) Now, uh, Lord, who am I?
Lest you think have hard evidence that I am totally crackers, go back to the first paragraph and see how many personalities you are expected to fill. I probably missed a score or two and you can fill in the blanks. Go on, give it a try! I bet you can come up with at least a dozen things you're expected to be in the course of the next couple weeks. Are there enough hours in the week to give each of these roles half a day and still go to work and get any sleep?
So here is the challenge; to find out what I really am created to enjoy. Who is the real me and where did all these other shadows of me come from? How many are expectations because I didn't say "no" to a volunteer assignment. Or something was broken and no one else was working on it.
Who am I, really...and who are you?