Monthly Archives: June 2026

Identity: Made, Chosen, or Given?

Sometimes a person looks at the world and feels it pulling in two directions at once. One voice says, “Invent yourself. Create who you want to be.” Another says, “Join a group. Take on its labels. Let your tribe tell you who you are.”

Both seem to promise clarity, belonging, and freedom.

Yet neither feels like the whole truth. If someone can make themselves from scratch, why do
they still feel unfinished And if they let a group define them, why do they feel smaller instead larger. So the question rises quietly in the heart, “Who tells me who I am?”

Me:   Lord, the world keeps telling people that identity is something they build or something they choose. Either they invent themselves or they join a group and let that define them. But both feel unstable. Both feel loud.Both feel like they demand something a person does not have.

God: That is because neither one is a foundation. Identity is not a construction project nor is it a political category. Identity is a gift.

Me:   A gift?

God: Yes. A person is not a blank canvas waiting for paint. They’re not a puzzle waiting for
pieces; and they’re not a slogan, a label, or a demographic box.

Me:   What are they?

God: They are My creation. My image. My workmanship. My child.

Me:   But the world says people should define themselves.

God: And I say they should discover themselves, the self I made. Identity is not invented. It is revealed by the One who made them. 

Me:  Then why do people cling so tightly to labels and tribes

God: Because they are searching for belonging, meaning, a name. But no human group can give a name that reaches the soul. And no self constructed identity can hold the weight of a human life. Only the One who made a person can tell them who they are.

Me:   Then who am I

God:  You are Mine, and everything else flows from that.

This Conversation is not meant as God’s literal speech, it simply reflects my thoughts on how Scripture shows His heart toward those who struggle with questions.

Reflection

There is a deep peace in realizing that a person does not have to manufacture themselves into something impressive or assemble an identity to feel real. They do not have to cling to a label to be seen, and they do not have to join a tribe to belong. Identity is not a performance, a political category, or a personal invention. It is a gift given by the One who knew them before they knew themselves. And perhaps that is the freedom many have been missing, the freedom of discovering that they do not have to define themselves but only need to discover the One who already has.

82 years later, we honor the extraordinary heroes of D-Day. On that fateful morning, thousands of brave American soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy with unwavering courage in defense of freedom. They fought not for glory or recognition, but for one another, for their country, and for the generations yet to come.
Every time Old Glory rises, we are reminded of their profound sacrifice and the price paid for the liberty we cherish today. Let us honor their legacy by never taking that freedom for granted.

Some left early. Airborne troops left for France June 5th, the evening before the invasion. I can’t say my dad did because he never said. He was with a glider group with the Army Air Force that was part of the invasion.

What blows me away is a kid 18 hits the beach June 6th is now 100 years old if still with us. See less

On June 4, 1919, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was approved by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. About 14 months later, on August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the proposed addition to the U.S. Constitution, giving it the three-fourths of the states necessary to become law.

Does this mean women could only vote after August 18, 1920? Nope. Some states,15 in all,had already approved women’s right to vote, primarily in western states. For example, Jeannette Rankin, a Montana Republican, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916.

Just thinking to myself here, but it really shouldn’t have been necessary for a separate amendment. The 15th Amendment gave Black Americans the right to vote, and perhaps it wasn’t the proper place to put it, but around the same time, in the 14th Amendment, the first clause begins by referring to “all citizens,” while the second clause, which has to do with voting, uses the word “male.”

Who knows, it could have been taken care of in 1868. It’s important because the 14th Amendment, including the equal protection clause, addresses aspects of citizenship and the rights of citizens. In Wyoming, the right of women to vote was approved.

But it wasn’t. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson ran on a platform of voting for women, yet he had personally opposed it before. The final opposition, including from President Wilson, was overcome in 1918 when Wilson agreed to it, and New York granted the right to women that year.