✏️ Synopsis: A seemingly routine encounter with an elder woman leads to reflection on identity, faith, and becoming. This piece invites you to look inward, imagine your future self, and guide that journey with vision-setting.
⏳ Read Time: 5 minutes
🏷️ Tags: #personalgrowth #selfreflection #identity #faith #critique #transition #storytelling
This week has felt like a loop of growing pains, inexplicable stress, and what would be endless sleep if I didn’t wake up to restart the cycle. Until today. I invite you on an hike over the hills formed by my mind into a story about identity, faith, and the quiet signs that remind us who we might become.
I work as a receptionist. Today I was greeted presently by an elder woman. She was slim with blown out brown hair that matched the complexion of her skin. While she has well passed her biblical life span (ref. Psalm 90:10), her smile and still voice had youthfulness in it.
I don’t mean youthfulness in terms of strength, although she must be strong to travel all the way to our office on her own. I mean the pleasant kind of youthfulness. The elegant, movie-like kind.
And dare I say, she made me think of me, or who I would like up become. When I’m older of course.
She provided her name in a voice that was gentle as a whisper, but still perceptible. Let’s say it was Ms. Divine. Because that is the meaning behind her name, and I found it quite fitting. Her name also means Prophetess.
This week (well, these past couple of months, really) I’ve been faced with the challenge of stepping into who I want to become. And I really wanted to wave a white flag. Because it feels like a lot more than I was ever prepared to face. I have always played a role, but I never had to come to face with who I am when I am stripped of every title.
Ironically, Christianity would teach you that when death or judgment day comes (whichever you face first), you will be called by your name. Not your title. Not your nickname. Not who you pretended to be. But the church is a place full of pretenders. Wolf in sheep clothing, who speak and behave like sheep.
In that church, I encountered one of the most unsettling pretenders: the person I once believed was the love of my life. Stepping away from that relationship and moving out of the line of fire has given me space to rediscover myself. Yet even now, I often turn from the mirror, only to find reflection in a presence so captivating it draws me into a wishful trance.
I wonder if you ever face an image of yourself or who you want to become. Do you recognize it right away? I was comforted and drawn in by Ms. Divine as soon as she entered the room. But is it always like that? Or are divine signs like this even common?
Earlier this year, I created a Dream Life Vision and broke it down into practical, achievable goals. I’ll even pin the TikTok that inspired the activity below. Maybe it can help you envision your own future self❣️