souldare

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14a NIV)

As I contemplate the first question of the series, several references to “who” come to mind. First, I thought of when Moses met GOD at the burning bush, and in his own way he asked GOD, “Who are you?”  GOD gives Moses this simple, yet somewhat cryptic answer: “I am who I am.” Throughout history, and specifically through the person of Jesus, I believe GOD has been revealing aspects of his identity. (For a more thorough study you might want to consider studying the I AM statements that Jesus made about himself in the gospel of John.)

And then I thought of the blue caterpillar, and how he posed a similar question to Alice. Alice doesn’t have a definitive answer. But she knows that it is a question to be pondered, and her inability to answer the question stems from her existential circumstance. A day where many changes have occurred, and her identity seems to be the least of her concerns.

The question of who can be posed about ourselves or about others. The definition of who from http://www.m-w.com in it’s simplest form says this:

what or which person or people

—used to question a person’s character or authority

Aha! When I ask who, I am not just asking which particular person or people does the who represent, but I want to know more. And especially when I ask it of myself, I am wondering what makes me who I am or who I think I am. What’s my character? What kind of authority do I have? Over myself? Over my life? Over others? Very interesting.

In a blog series, I will never exhaust the existential question of who, but I did want to rouse questions. And I think this is enough to chew on for today. However, I will leave you with some words that ran through my mind, while taking the elevator to work this afternoon.

I am a who,

not a what

nor a when,

nor a where

nor even a how.

I may be a why, yet

mostly I am a who.

How does answering the who question raise other questions for you?

If you have time or inclination, answer the question: “Who am I?” in your journal or make a representative collage.

I would love to hear how you responded to this post in the comments, or on instagram or twitter using #7questions