Quotes about Identity

Henri Nouwen said, "In order to be of service to others we have to die to them; that is, we have to give up measuring our meaning and value with the yardstick of others…. thus we become free to be compassionate." When you base your worth and identity on your relationship to Christ, you are freed from the expectations of others, and that allows you to really serve them best.

A young man in his twenties wrote, "I feel like a failure because I'm struggling to become something, and I don't even know what it is. All I know how to do is to get by. Someday, if I discover my purpose, I'll feel I'm beginning to live.

Your value doesn't come from the clothes you wear, a number on a scale, your career, or your success with a health plan on any given day. You are of immense value because God made you.

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.

We often confuse our identity with our habits, but the truth is, habits can be changed! Habits are things you do. They are not who you are! You have weaknesses, but you are not your weaknesses. You are a unique creation of God, flawed by your nature and choices, yet deeply loved by God. No man or woman will ever love you as much as God does. His love for you is not dependent on your habits.

Laundry, liturgy and women's work all serve to ground us in the world, and they need not grind us down. Our daily tasks, whether we perceive them as drudgery or essential, life-supporting work, do not define who we are as women or as human beings.

To be an American is to move on, as if we could outrun change. To attach oneself to place is to surrender to it, and suffer with it.

A man's true estate of power and riches is to be in himself; not in his dwelling or position or external relations, but in his own essential character.

The power is in the balance: we are our injuries, as much as we are our successes.

Whoever has power takes over the noun - and the norm - while the less powerful get an adjective.

It is not that I want merely to be called a Christian, but actually to be one. Yes, if I prove to be one, then I can have the name.

Fervent prayer keeps your true identity in focus.