Do You Know Who I Am?

Photo Credit:  alexasion78 from morgueFile.com

I want to start this week’s Sips with a nice little story from Mikey’s Funnies:

It was the final examination for an introductory English course at a university.  Like many such freshman courses, it was designed to weed out new students, having over 800 students in the class.  The examination was two hours long, and exam booklets were provided.  The professor was very strict and told the class that any exam that was not on his desk in exactly two hours would not be accepted and the student would fail.

Half an hour into the exam, a student came rushing in and asked the professor for an exam booklet.

"You're not going to have time to finish this," the professor said, as he handed the student a booklet.

"Yes I will," replied the student.  He then took a seat and began writing.

After two hours, the professor called for the exams and the students filed up and handed them in--all except the late student, who continued writing.

Half an hour later, the last student came up to the professor who was sitting at his desk preparing for his next class.  He attempted to put his exam on the stack of exam booklets already there.

"Oh, no you don't!  I'm not going to accept that.  It's late."

The student looked incredulous and angry, "Do you know who I am?"

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't," replied the professor with an air of sarcasm in his voice.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!" the student asked again.

"No, and I don't care," replied the professor with an air of superiority.

"Good," replied the student, who quickly lifted the stack of completed exams, stuffed his in the middle, and briskly walked out of the room.

Some of us may or may not have done something of the sort.  We will neither confirm nor deny it though, right?  I enjoyed the story, mostly because it reminded me of something wonderful.

The sneaky little student in the story kept asking the professor if he knew him and the professor admitted that he didn’t know him by name.  The student clarified this fact a second time and was elated because his anonymity meant he still had a chance to pass his English course.

Being anonymous might work in certain situations like this one.  BUT!  Oftentimes, we don’t want to be anonymous.  We want to be seen.  We want to be heard.  We want to be needed.  We need to be wanted.  The great news is that there is someone who always sees us, hears us, wants us, and needs us.

That someone is God.

If we would ask Him, “Do you know who I am?”…He will always answer yes.  He will give us a deep, resounding yes to knowing who we are - our strengths and weaknesses, our faults and insecurities, our good and bad habits, our successes and failures…the number of hairs on our head.

Many times, I forget how incredible that is.  Someone knows our moods, temptations, sins, thoughts, and flaws and loves us despite all of that.  We don’t have to explain ourselves to God.  He knows us.  We don’t have to convince God of this or that.  He knows us.  We can just be still with Him in silence because He knows us.  Take a moment to breathe all of that awesomeness in because it’s truly beautiful…and comforting.  God knows exactly what we need even before we ask.

Another thing that I sometimes take for granted is the amazing gift of our Lord, truly present in the Eucharist.  I take for granted the awe of the bread and wine becoming His body and precious blood.  Jesus knows every single thing about us, good and not-so-good, and still desperately wants us at the Eucharistic Celebration.  Wow.

Matthew Kelly wrote an absolutely wonderful prayer about the Eucharist that I’d like to share:  “My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are present in the Eucharist.  Take the blindness from my eyes, so that I can see all people and things as you see them.  Take the deafness from my ears, so that I can hear your truth and follow it.  Take the hardness from my heart, so that I can live and love generously.  Give me the grace to receive the Eucharist with humility, so that you can transform me a little more each day into the person you created me to be.  Amen.”  Love it!

During this Lenten season, I hope to take steps in the right direction as I get to know our Lord more and more intimately, like He knows me.  So, when He asks me, “Do you know who I am?”…I want to be able to give Him a deep, resounding YES! 

Won’t you join me?

Have a wonderful week, Sunshines!