Queen Bee or Nerd Underling?

In high school, were you the queen bee? Did you command a
group of girls who laughed at every witty observance you uttered? In your
school, did you start the fad for showing your belly button? Did everybody vote
for you?

Were you the big man on campus? When you walked down the
hallways, did nerdy boys get out of your way? If you wore purple, did everyone
wear purple? Did you collect titles: quarterback, captain, president?

Or were you one of the boys who knew how to find the square
of 4,539 but couldn’t find a date for prom? Maybe you were the girl who loved
Jane Eyre when everyone else loved George Michael.

As a psychotherapist, I often asked clients about their high
school experience. What they reported always told more than they said. Identities
we form in high school, accurate or not, are long lasting. Though it takes a
lifetime to become who we are, evaluating our high school sense of ourselves is
a fruitful step of self-knowledge. How we saw ourselves then may have had more
to do with how others saw us than who we are made to be.

Because our true identity rests on how Jesus sees us.
Without the pressure to be on top of the social structure or the weight of
being on the bottom, under Jesus’ direction, we can stretch into our own shape.
Maybe that shape is close to our high school identity. Maybe not. Only Jesus
knows the shape of our heart.

Jesus, draw us onto
your lap today. May we know ourselves afresh, in your arms.