Be Mine

by Linda Strickland
Jan/Feb 2010

My favorite year of grade school was fourth grade. Mrs. Vogel was my teacher, and she was wonderful. There were several things that I loved about her, but the thing I most appreciated was how she always looked you in the eyes when you were talking to her. You knew that she was really listening, and she made you feel that what you were saying was important to her.

Mrs. Vogel loved Valentine's Day, and the year I was in her class she covered the walls of our room with red and pink paper hearts. A few days before our Valentine party, she had us decorate empty shoe boxes with red and pink paper, white cotton balls and glitter. I glued way too much glitter on my box, as I excitedly anticipated the many valentines my box would hold — especially one valentine in particular.

On Valentine's Day my stomach was in knots as I watched Artie, the boy I was crazy about at the time, walk around the boxes dropping his valentines here and there. As I closely watched him, I noticed that he never dropped anything in my box... and my heart was broken! Although I had given everyone in my class a small store–bought valentine, I had worked for hours on cutting and pasting a very special valentine for Artie. When the bell rang at the end of the day, I hurriedly grabbed my box, cotton balls and glitter flying, and ran home with tears stinging my eyes. I felt so foolish!

When I got home I ran straight to my room, tossed my now glitter–free box on the floor, and threw myself across my bed. And for the first time in my life, I cried over a boy.

Later that evening I decided to open the discarded box and read my valentines. After looking through the pile, there in the very bottom of the box was the most beautiful valentine I had ever seen. As I opened the hand–made, glitter–covered red heart, I saw the words "BE MINE" in capital letters. It was signed, "Love, Artie."

My 10–year old heart was so elated that I didn't stop smiling for a week…which was about the same time that a boy named Rusty caught my eye. As I think back to this memory, I am filled with raw emotion at the intensity of our need to belong…to feel accepted, wanted and cherished by someone. Reflecting on my feelings at that time, I am aware of how the tears I shed were more about the loneliness and rejection I felt than about Artie himself. And as a result, I felt less of a person.

This simple little story from my life is just one small example of how I used to allow either my emotions or other people to tell me who I was. I couldn't hear the voice of the one who created me because the other voices were just too loud.

Self–identity covers so many parts of the human experience, and much of our self–identity is formed by the environment in which we live, either within our families or the outside world. And in our search for identity in this world, it is easy to become distracted, and we end up listening to the lies of the enemy rather than the voice of the Beloved.

In Level 3 of our Schools of Healing Prayer^®, we have a talk on Intimacy and Identity. In this powerful teaching we talk about the importance of knowing the source of our identity. If we base our identity on anyone other than Jesus, we will always struggle with loneliness, fear and rejection. Jesus always knew the source of his identity, and he never wavered…even when he knew he was going to the cross. For his entire life, he operated and lived in his true identity and this was because of his relationship with his heavenly Father.

In Francis' book, Healing (Appendix 3), The Rev. Tommy Tyson talks about the importance of realizing our relationship with the Father through Jesus. He says, "Jesus became what we were so that we might become what he is. Jesus comes into all of us, becomes mind of our mind, spirit of our spirit, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. God's purpose is to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ; God intends for us to be like Jesus — not in the abstract, but in the concrete here and now. He accomplishes this by the power of the Spirit working within us."

He then goes on to ask the questions, "How do you see people? How do you see people in your heart? How do you see yourself before the Father? Do you let Jesus Christ establish in your heart who you are in the light of his love? This is what the Holy Spirit does. He shows us who we are separated from God, and then shows us who we are in relationship to God."

I am constantly overwhelmed by God's love for us, and how all through Scripture we are met with beautiful valentines, inviting us into relationship with Him. Over and over He says to us, "BE MINE" in capital letters!

As you enter into this New Year, I pray that you will know who you are, by remembering whose you are.

Bless you, my friends, and have a Happy and Joyful New Year!!

Linda Strickland is CHM's Associate Director of Ministry and Assistant to Judith MacNutt.