Sin: A Part of Who I Am.

This week I've been thinking a bit about labels. As a mother of three boys I recognize completely different personality traits in each of them and I notice they each have different struggles. I notice that their sin is a part of who they are. Just as our likes, dislikes, gifts, looks and fingerprints make us individuals so do our personal struggles with sin. It's the thing that makes us all the same and the thing that makes us different.

It's very hard for me to imagine who I would be without sin. Would I still talk so much? Is that a wrong part of me, or would I just not say some (lots) of the things I say. I know I wouldn't have a temper like I do, and I wouldn't worry the way I do and I wouldn't be self righteous like I can sometimes be. But would I still be Amy? Am I so sinful that who I am is mostly bad and no one would recognize what's left if that wasn't part of me anymore? It seems all very philosophical but this blog was meant to reveal the struggles of Christians and to be an exploration of self.

All this leads me to think about my kids and other kids, my oldest son is very busy, I wouldn't say he has ADD but even if he did it would take a lot for me to allow a label like that. Here's what I think. Do people who have a sibling with special needs as having "down's syndrome" or "autism" etc? Or do they just think of them as Joe or Betty or whoever they are. I can tell you from discussing this with friends who do have family members with handicaps that they almost never think of them in terms of their disorder. Where does the disorder begin and the person end or vise versa? That disorder is PART of them.

This is also true for those who have depression or bipolar disorder or who have been abused as a child. Those things become part of who a person is. The problem with a label is I think that defines them by the disorder. If you really start to search then everything could be a "symptom".

Having suffered from some mild depression myself I can tell you that the experience of it has shaped me. Sin in my life has shaped me. Losing my dad and miscarrying babies has shaped me. The only reason I had to suffer those experiences was because of the fall into sin.

Labelling disorders in children and adults can be useful, and sometimes is necessary, but I just want to be careful that we allow our children to be who they are and not find a specific reason for every bad thing they do. There is a reason! Sin! The Devil! If it has a fancy name it doesn't make it less ugly. Why is my son busy and talkative and sometimes mischeivious? Because he is a person, conceived and born in sin, but made in the image of his Father in heaven. He will struggle with his depraved nature his whole life but he will aslo enjoy the gifts he's been granted and  some of his traits will be both a blessing and a curse.

We have to find a happy medium with all of this. Years ago we locked people up and kicked difficult kids out of school. Now we seem to label and medicate everyone accordingly. There isn't any quick fix for sin in the world is there? It's a life long battle and God has promised the cross we bear won't be too heavy, and if it is, He'll be there to carry it for us.

Sin is a part of who I am, but just like George Bush (see previous post) Godwilling, I will not allow it to define who I am. I'd welcome any prayers to help me out with that! :-)

1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.