We all have multiple roles to play in life – and therefore multiple parts of what we think of as our own personal identity. Who or what are we? Son or daughter. Perhaps a parent or grandparent, a spouse or a significant other. Likely a boss, employee, student, or volunteer. Adult or child. Neighbor. Citizen of a particular country. And so on.

St. Paul, in the midst of his famous definition of love, reminded us that, “…Now we know in part, but then we will know fully – even as we are fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). The truth is, most days of living on this earth provide me with a very limited scope of who I really am, of the potential God has placed in me and how much He loves me, and of who He is making me to be so that I can love other people with His heart.

I have recently started studying the book of First John more fully and am blown away with the seemingly simple yet incredibly complex truths held there. Today, trying to wrap my mind around the lavish love God has for me and each one of His children while we grace the planet for a blip of eternity led me to write the following acrostic. I pray it will bless you and help you glimpse a fuller picture of your identity within this moment.

In cosmic finger-spinning was I woven,

Divine imagination’s product, made for a purpose both

Eternal and momentary,

Never – not for a moment –

Taken for granted, forgotten, purposeless, less than lavishly loved,

Intended to reach the end

Triumphant over fear and death while

Years of Heaven’s calendar spin on without end.