What Are Your Labels?

What are the labels you carry? Which ones did you chose and which ones have you been forced to carry?

Is it possible None of the labels are correct, and in fact are a burden you don't need to carry?

I have to admit that there are labels I carry because they make me feel important and worthy.

• I am Christian and Catholic, which bear their own bias pictures according to the world. But, for me they mean that God is the first and most important relationship in my life. I make mistakes, I turn to God in sorrow and repentance, and Know that God loves me and forgives me.

• I am a wife, so I wear that badge with honor. Being married and doing all the things to keep a happy house is hard work, so when you succeed you bask in that warmth of success.

• I am a parent, so I have given myself to my kids. I have loved every minute of raising my children. The gift of myself to them and my husband, to be there in the good times and the heart wrenching. This label I also wear with honor.

• My job title gives me a sense of relevance. Let's people know that I am smart, and that people outside of my family appreciate me. Job titles also come with power. From the least important job all the way to the President of the US and beyond. The first part of that power is that you are ambitious enough to work for what you have. The second part is that you can manipulate the world around you in small ways because you have money and voice to effect change.

But what about labels or label definitions that you didn't ask for or didn't earn?

• The Christian and Catholic labels are a great example of this. Often people from the outside world expect perfection from Christians. On the flip side the person wearing the label thinks that because they are doing work for their church they are being forgiven sins. Some think that being grumpy in their work is okay because they are working for God, or because they fill their lives with religion, they are better than everyone else.

• Then of course there are the ethnicity race and gender labels. These create an entirely different struggle. Instead of addressing all the things that just popped into your mind, I am going to address this from my perspective and maybe shed a little light on a new direction we can take.

A few years ago two people I respect were talking about how their children are white privilege. I listened to their conversation and came away from it knowing something in the conversation wasn't quite right, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I am white, with other stuff mixed in like many Americans, and my husband and I have afforded our children every opportunity we could, to help them be the very best they can be. Ultimately, I know it is up to them to make that happen. The term white privilege is absolutely derogatory, but I am not going to get my panties in a wad if people use it. It is just another example of people trying to be comfortable in the world by organizing it to their liking, but, I asked myself, "Would I have ever called them "white privilege"?" It was in that moment I knew what bothered me. I remembered my girls in middle school, high school and college. The struggles they had with peers, discovering their path, developing confidence and discovering the beauty in themselves. Placing a label like white privilege around their neck would have crippled them. Possibly for life. All of us need to be joyful in who we are, no matter what race, creed, or sex. We have been created by God for a purpose, and he loves us beyond measure as that person. Does this mean he loves our bad choices as that person? Heck no! But he does love us beyond our poor choice into redemption.

What we "perceive" and what "is" are both realities. One is not less than the other, because we believe and see both. So, what is the label? Is there one that really fits or do we just label things so we are comfortable with the world around us?

One of these images is the photo, and one is the painting. Is one less than the other because they are different? What if one is the exterior of the flower and the other is the interior... The label is no longer of any relevance. It becomes more than a flower it is beyond definition. As human beings we are so much more complex than this. The labels are merged and again we cannot be defined even if you spent a lifetime trying to apply every label you could think of.

What To Do With Our Labels

Start by letting them go. Father Anthony de Mello says it best in his book Awareness. "The important thing is not to know who "I" is. You'll never succeed. There are no words for it. The Important thing is to drop the labels." The good news is that it takes time. This is not an overnight fix or a twelve day self-help moment. This is you, learning one label at a time, to love yourself and the path God is leading you to. This path is free of preconceived labels people want to give you to hold. You have been given permission to let them go. God doesn't use them, instead he calls you his beloved and so should you.

Closing Prayer

The Magnificat

The Prayer Of Mary My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.

Amen

(Lk 1: 46-55)

What are the labels you Carry? What is the first label you are going to pray for help in letting go?