Rip off the tag!

Someone recently described to me a conversation between person A and person B:

A: "Oh, you're a __X__. Then you must think __Y__."

B: "Where did that come from? I don't want A to think that I think __Y__!"

I don't like being labeled and dismissed. I don't think anyone else does.

It's hard for me to talk to you when there's a tag hanging off the front of my hat, dangling in my face, regardless of which of us put it there. It's even worse when I see myself in terms of the tag that someone else hung on me.

I can't allow myself to be what somebody else imagines me to be. I must be what I am as God has blessed me, and as I serve Him in ways that are uniquely mine.

I'm walking on a Trail.

Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's very rough. It goes uphill and downhill, through clearings, woods, thickets, and jagged rock.

I believe that there's a Trail, although I know that it is often hard to follow; I believe it has a Destination, although I may not see it from where I am.

These are a few of my notes, written as I walk.