A message to the grads: First know who you are

Are you puzzled or frustrated by a lack of progress, peace, and even joy in your life? Perhaps the most important step you can take is to learn who you truly are.

By Matt Schepeler

The EveningViews.com

Last Saturday President Trump spoke at the West Point commencement and honored the football team’s quarterback, Bryson Daily.

Daily is a West Texan who opted to go to the United States Service Academy rather than a traditional college.

Now a graduating senior, Daily had an illustrious career, guiding Army to a top 25 ranking, which is unusual for a service academy. He also set an FBS single season record by rushing for 32 touchdowns.

In other words, he is one tough hombre.

In a story on ESPN.com, Army's assistant head coach for offense, Mike Viti, is quoted as saying that he still has his first evaluation of Daily on his computer after seeing tape of him as a high school prospect.

“The report reads like it might have come from a back alley, maybe even an underground fight club, instead of a football field,” wrote Chris Low in the story.

Viti said "It looked like [Daily] was in a street fight every time he carried the ball. He looked like he was fighting, just a different running style. And then you find out he was a hurdler on the track team and a coach's kid, and you get real excited.

"You knew you were watching a brawler."

What strikes me about Bryson Daily is not that he is a tough kid, or that he has a bright future. What captures my imagination is that this young man knows who he is and is where he belongs.

Where better to put a “street fighter,” a “brawler,” and a “leader” than West Point, training to lead the Army infantry, for crying out loud? And then getting him on the football field? Magic is bound to happen.

When someone finds this blend of knowing who they are and being where they belong, it always results in something special. You know it when you see it. It doesn’t matter if that person is an artist creating oil paintings, a mom raising four daughters, a mechanic with a knack for fixing cars, or a football player jamming the rock into the end zone. When you are doing what God created you to do, good things tend to happen.

When we see someone excelling like this, we often chalk it up to talent or hard work, which is certainly important. But true success, the kind that tends towards not only extraordinary achievement, but to wholeness itself, always begins with identity – in knowing who we are.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of discovering one’s true identity is that even though there is an entire human race, there is only one you. You are a unique creation. There is not now, nor will there ever be, another you. When it comes to being you, you are it!

This means that no one else can contribute to the world quite like you can. It also means that no human formula can guide you into being the best you, since you are unique. Trying to figure it out on our own is like putting a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle together without a picture to guide the way. We may hit and miss with a little success here and there, but something will always be missing. We will never have the complete picture.

I believe a person needs to go to their Creator to understand their true identity, and will then need His help in walking it out. The Bible teaches about a walk with a loving God who wants us to become who He created us to be. It is not about checking off a religious to-do list or earning a place above someone else. It is about becoming who you, and only you, can become.

In his book Living Fearless, author Jamie Winship says that our true identity is best described as how God views us. After all, God called David a king while he was still a young boy. He called Gideon a mighty man of valor when he was yet cowering in a secret threshing floor. He called Peter a Rock before he was anything but solid in his faith. He also knows you and me, and the plans he has for us.

Until we know how God sees us, all we see are our individual traits, foibles and pieces - some good and some bad - and the huge jigsaw puzzle that is our life remains frustratingly incomplete.

So... if I were to be invited to give a commencement address to a group of graduates just starting out, or even to give a piece of advice to an older friend going through a midlife crisis, my first bit of advice would be to find out who they truly are. Start there. This should be the number one priority.

If you don’t know, ask God, then listen carefully. He will tell you, and when He does, it will always line up with the biblical values and principles in His word.

Then, step out in faith and be that person, as only you can be.

Good things are sure to follow.