Three Lovely Questions – My Answers
by SELASIE BULMUO
Someone recently asked me three lovely questions. Since I will have to give them my answers tomorrow (actually today as it is 3 am now), I am sitting down to reflect and find answers straight from my heart. So here goes……..
- What identity means to you?
Identity to me means understanding all the facets of my life and how they fit into the big picture so that I am able to accept who I truly am (both my past and present) and to use this as a stepping stone and something to work with on my journey to becoming all I am destined to be ( which because of my faith is totally linked to God’s revelation to me of myself and my future).
My identity is found and expressed in
Who I know I am (Not just according to me but also according to the word of God)
The things I do – My life’s purpose, the reason I think I exist
The things I refuse to do – My boundaries and principles and Values
My commitment to what and who I am becoming.
(Notice, I didn’t include what I have, because that can be taken away and I still have to be me).
2.Why you write?
I found out at an early age that I loved solitude and my own company. When I am alone and undisturbed, inspired thoughts come to me, which often clarify something I have experienced or observed in my own life or in the lives of others. These often help me answer the ’W’ questions – Why? What? Who? When? Where? Etc. When I was a child I did not know how to use this gift properly and will write long letters to my parents, friends etc expressing my disgust at something which they had done which I felt was wrong.
It was only later that I realised that my writing was a gift from God to be used specifically to question life and to provide answers or routes out of dysfunction. Many find ‘life’ difficult and confusing. Many write to educate others on different topics. Unlike them I do not consider myself an expert. I write first and foremost to give myself a chance to make sense of life. I write so that I can take a walk of reflection with someone else, so they know they are not alone in the way they feel, so my words can give expression to what they feel but cannot fully express or make sense of as yet. In coming to an understanding of the ‘whys’ they can perhaps begin to live life on an even keel with some strength and fortitude, finding ad paving a way through the darkness that sometimes surrounds us all. I like to think that I am a voice in the gap between where you are now and where you will like to be. At least that is my aim.
I am also preacher, so I tend to write messages putting my own reflective stamp on them so readers can understand the word of God and what it says about them a bit better.
I think I will have mental overload if I don’t write. My brain and thinking processes will get blocked. Writing is almost an offloading process for me.
Writing comes easily to me. It is a great blessing which I am only now beginning to take seriously.
3. What it means to be a woman?
Well, since I could very easily write volumes on this, to help me be brief, I will answer it in a poem.
Being Woman is versatility
Changing change itself
Being Woman is richness held in store
A bank that never runs out
Being Woman is beauty covering strength
Making the undo-able do-able
With grace and fortitude
Being woman is unveiling true greatness
Through sheer tenacity of spirit and grit
Without showing signs of breaking a sweat
Being woman is gentleness that remains true
And is not disfigured by pressure
Being woman is wisdom expressed
In more ways than the obvious
Being woman is elegance
Revealed through humility
Being woman is virtue
Having the ability to rise to every challenge
Being woman is Influence
Often without saying a word
A Woman is:
Softness, enfolding pain and healing it
Hardness, bringing change even without provision
Endurance, the expression of staying power
The kind only God can give
Woman is me
Whatever I need to be
To meet the needs in my world
Woman is embracing my uniqueness
As a treasure and a gift
That cannot be undone
The future awaits me
It is all mine
I am WOMAN !!!
I would agree, it is something that you have to reflect on. I applaud you for answering so honestly thoughtful. The closing poem is beautiful too. You are woman! I like it alot better than Helen Reddings version.
Great praise indeed. Thanks Liz.
Like this post a lot! ♥