My Peeps
My grandkids have wrapped up the school year. Talks with them remind me of yesteryear when I, too, was finishing up for summer break, saying goodbyes to friends I would collectively see next fall, giving a hug to the teacher who’d endured the year with us, getting a reprieve from the “it’s a school night” bedtime, etc.
Some of my grand kiddos are in the “moving on” summer breaks, when they will move to a whole new school as they advance from elementary to middle school, from middle school to high school.
The kids we went to school with during these formative years - these were our peeps back then, our tribe, our macro community within which our closer friendship circles developed. After that came our work-life communities, our neighborhood communities, our faith and civic group communities.
And here we are today, all grown up with these, our peeps.
We were made to live in community with others and the folks with whom we bond become our people, our peeps as I’ve been calling them. It’s quite a beautiful thing to have, and it’s quite a devastating thing to have fractures and fissures within the sacred bond. Like you, I’ve been through the beauty and brokenness of life with my peeps. We all have relationships that have endured and those that have faded.
Through all of that relational history, we’ve become who we are right now. Relational history and dynamics is the most significant and informing force in the shaping of our sense of self, the beliefs we hold about who we are, who others are. They even shape much of our belief and understanding of the Divine.
I bring this up as a reminder - it is a common thing to get our identity from our peeps, the aggregate of all of them and, perhaps more importantly, from the ones with whom we have the deepest connection. Parents, siblings, family members, teachers, coaches, even people who we might not know well but who injure us deeply, be it consciously or indiscriminately. Our identity comes from outside us, and often by way of the people we’ve met…our peeps.
True identity is not from them. True identity comes from the source of life, from unconditional love, from perfect peace, from pure mercy and kindness, from brilliant radiance and beauty. Our Creator gives us our identity and it is an absolutely true and unshakable image. This is new news to some and reminding news to others.
We are people who want to flourish, to win, to cultivate attraction and bring blessing to the culture we work in, live in and serve in. We simply must commit resolutely and regularly, compelled to walk, even if against the cultural flow, against the lies culture foists on us - that we are what others believe about us, that we are the sum of our success and failure, that we are (somehow) fatefully destined to the life we’ve been dealt.
I don’t believe that for one second. That is a lie! It’s the lie that distracts and discourages people every single day. And you are my peeps - so I continue to hum my little tune, write my little note and remind myself and anyone who hears…otherwise the noise and distraction of the world just takes over and leads generations away from the life that was given as a gift.
So, my peeps - my career & family oriented friends - we all have the choice to bring our true identity to our work and team, to serve from that security - OR - we can work without that vision, albeit with our peeps, and see how the chips fall.
The encouragement today is two-fold: Be reminded that your true identity is knowable and, (2) you have to choose to work from that truth. Don’t live without knowing the truth and don’t let others squeeze you into their mold.
I’ll be starting a few new online cohorts for friends who want to grow and learn more about knowing their true identity here soon. Please shoot me a note if you’d be interested in being part of one of these. We meet for about an hour per week, run for a few months together, grow and encourage one another. Meetings are virtual, confidential and fruitful. Again - ping me an email and we’ll get started.
Peace over your life and household today. You are my peeps and I care about you~
Craig
