Highlights

My high school, which is really far in my rear view mirror, sends out an alumni magazine every six months call Highlights. CCES is a private school, so of course the primary reason is to raise funds, but I read through it every time mainly because of the back section. Each class representative gathers milestone moments in the lives of those from each class. I get to rejoice with those who got married or had a baby, or I can mourn and pray for those that have experienced loss. At church we do the same thing, but we call it Joys and Sorrows.

These highlights allow us as a larger community to give attention to times in peoples life that redefine who they are. We get to look deeper into their journeys. As a family, my husband and my daughter and I celebrate birthdays and accomplishments, while at the same time we share burdens and struggles. These milestones help to give us something to look forward to or give us strength to overcome. I understand who I am in this context of experiencing life with my family, but I also understand who I am as I journey and share journeys with those in my church family, my growing up school family, my extended family, my work family.

There is a song by Rich Mullens called "Creed". Part of the chorus says talking about faith, "I did not make it, no it is making me." These stories, highlights, milestones are making me and those around me and I am just realizing that it is also those that are journeying with me in some way who are also helping to define who I am. I am ultimately defined and identified by the One who is closest to me, My Heavenly Father. I thank God for those in my family and my church family who have over the years helped me to define who I am. My mom told me over and over, "You can be anything you want to be." With that freedom, I am so grateful to her and to God who changed my "want".

2 Corinthians 3:17-18
¹⁷ This Lord is the Spirit. Wherever the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ As all of us reflect the Lord’s glory with faces that are not covered with veils, we are being changed into his image with ever-increasing glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

May the God of Vision and Power continue to reveal Himself to us and through us. Amen

James 4:14,
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