what defines me?

Today in Kindergarten we were talking about shapes; particularly squares and rectangles. I showed the class our Canada flag and asked what shapes they saw on it. One child said two rectangles. Perfect! Another child said "the Toronto Maple leaf". Um, yes, a RED maple leaf, but Toronto? :)

Symbols are all around us, and with these five year olds, that is how they label something or define an object or place. If I show them a symbol of an octagon they define it as a stop sign, whether it has the word stop on it or not.

It got me thinking of what defines me? When people look at me do they put a label on me by what they see? Do they define me by my job alone or do they get to know me as a person.

At a staff meeting this past week our Pastor shared with us about "Walking with God" which is our church theme this year. He said something that really resinated. He asked "If you couldn't teach, who would you be?" He challenged us in our own personal walk with God that I am to be a Christian before I am a teacher. I want God to define my life before anything else. My desire is that when people see me they see Jesus as a symbol or label that makes me who I am.