Saw this car parked outside the grocery store the other day. I see a lot of cars like this in Colorado.

Doubtless you also have seen this one or its twin at a grocery store, Home Depot, cinema, fitness center, hospital, bar and grill, or haberdashery near you.

You’ve heard of the EV? Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the EEV! The Ego Enhancement Vehicle. The ideal car for today’s identity-starved times.

It is no longer enough to go to a place, experience it firsthand, and then return home. 

Today we must go to the place… take and post photos to all the socials… buy the commemorative T-shirt… also buy (at the same souvenir shop) a sticker for our car that proves we were there… take a few more photos… and THEN return home.

After returning home, we casually drive our EEV to the grocery store, Home Depot, cinema, fitness center, hospital, bar and grill, or haberdashery, hoping people will notice our stickers and think to themselves, “WOW! That lady (or guy. Or they/them) really gets AROUND! I want to be like THEM some day!”

If it sounds as if I have an axe to grind, you’re 100% correct. I do. 

I feel and opine so vigorously on this topic because it reveals and reflects an uncomfortable aspect of my own make-up. While pointing an aging index finger of blame at THEM for their blatant thirst for attention, I point three other decrepit fingers back at myself. 

Turns out taking that speck out of YOUR eye is kind of tough with this gigantic log poking out of MINE.

We – they and I – seek attention. We seek (crave?) recognition. We want to be reminded that we somehow matter. We look for reassurance about our identities… we want to be told that we are unique, memorable, precious, and sparkling.

In case you haven’t noticed, identities matter a great deal right now. In my humble opinion, it is because the mass of most people goes through adulthood without ever being reminded of just how one-of-a-kind and irreplaceable they/we are. 

The thirst for identity is individual, but it is also national. Before our recent tour of Turkey, I thought the good ol’ USA led the world in number of flags displayed per capita. 

Not so, as it happens.

Does this sound even remotely like you? Do you wish someone would look at you – just once – and say, “You know what? I just realized something; I just figured out that you are an incredibly unique, complex, textured, layered, magnificent, and utterly worthy human being. I am SO glad I know you!”

If that sounds at all familiar, let me now – with confidence – make this declaration to you: YOU (Yes, you!) are a beloved child of God… the Eternal One… the Creator of the Universe… the Unsynonymous… the Alpha and Omega.

The words of 1 John 1:3 make a very similar declaration: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are…”

I remind you of that aspect of your identity because I regularly need to be reminded of that fundamental fact myself. For too many of my waking hours I am making and listening to all kinds of other, conflicting declarations about who I really am… giving WAY too much credibility to them.

But there is really only one declaration that really matters:

“YOU ARE A BELOVED CHILD OF GOD.”

Now wouldn’t THAT make a great car sticker!

Abundant blessings;