Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life. – Psalm 139:23-24

The idea of perspective is a recurring theme in this blog, understanding that things – pretty much everything – change constantly in relation to how, or from where, we look.

I caught another example of that Tuesday evening, from our neighbor Ginger’s wonderful rambling home.

Rebekah and I were out for an after-dinner walk with Max when Ginger invited us to take a tour of her home. Her house dates – the heart of it – from around 1875 so we have been neighbors, kind of, for a good 150 years!

Upstairs, in her bedroom, I looked out and noticed the above view of our home. Wow! We may have tried to inspect every detail from every angle, but I have never had this view before.

Curiously, this is as much of a legitimate view of our house as any standard elevation from the street. Yet when I think about 408 Saint Patrick I will likely never see this in my mind’s eye.

Complicated? or Confused?

O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me. – Psalm 139:1

So what about me? Is the Derek Maul who leads the men’s Bible Study recognizable on the street? In my FaceBook feed? On the golf course? In my books? Walking Max through the Town Common?

Who we are feels more like a collage, pasted together from many sources. But am I (are we) that complicated? Or is it more that we don’t actually know who we are and we could use a little help?

God knows us. And, as Rebekah often says, “God knows me and loves me anyway.”

Maybe the truth about who we are is discoverable in our relationship with God? Rebekah and I have both said that the most powerful witness – or testimony – we can have is authenticity. In other words, truly being ourselves and being honest about everything from our struggles to our victories to our understanding of God.

But we have to know ourselves in order to be ourselves and that is where the relationship with God comes in.

Maybe if rather than trying to project a particular image we should instead get to know God more intimately and as we do, discover who we were created to be? We are all created in God’s image so it stands to reason that the secret to who we are is to be found in knowing God.

And that of course is an ongoing project. A lot like our house, and our neighbor Ginger’s too. In a sense it is all a story of becoming….

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand! – Psalm 139:6

– DEREK

below – it all depends on where you stand: