How many hats do you wear?

Throughout our lives we wear many "hats." When most use this expression they are thinking primarily of the tasks involved in our career work.

The career itself is a "hat." We could be a fireman, police officer, politician, teacher, doctor and so on. Within a career field we could do accounting, cash handling, recruiting, vetting, disciplining, cleaning, mothering, fathering, chauffeuring, coaching and so on.

Yet there is another "hat" we wear having to do with what we and others think of us as well as from our past. This can include: intelligent, trustworthy, honest, industrious, cautious, fearful, shy, hostile, hurtful... the list goes on and on. This list is problematic, particularly when the "hats" are harmful or far from the truth. Whom are we allowing to define us: friends, neighbors, co-workers, employers, courts, strangers on the street?

Applying tags and stereotypes to others is a means by which we can readily identify them. Sadly, it is also a means of pigeon-holing them in order to "bag-em, tag-em and forget-em." Any words or actions contrary to the preconceived "hat" are disconcerting and must be ignored as irrelevant. And once the person is so tagged, that tag tends to remain affixed forever in our minds, as though the person can and will never change. We do this to others, yet become offended if they do it to us.

As a follower of Jesus the Christ you are what He says you are, and you can do what He says you can do. No longer in your heart should you ever allow yourself to be defined by other men, by the devil, or even by your past. Each day is a fresh start, and your future can be what you choose to make it despite anyone or anything from your past.

Celebrate the new beginning today!