Know Who You Are

In life we meet so many people and their influence cannot be overlooked or denied. We have our parents and relatives as our first contact to human relation. We then go to school we meet teachers and fellow school mates. We make friends with people from different walks of life,depending on our sphere of contact. Having said this I want to say it is very important to know who you are, where you are from and who your people are,self knowledge is of utter importance. Know what manner of people you hail from, cause if you don't know yourself you  are most likely to loose yourself in the crowd.

Self knowledge is a very common practice in Africa and I being a mosotho girl know this very well. My people pride themselves in their identity.To date my father now and again calls us by our clan name(Maphuthing).We have rhymes/praise songs we say about who we are, I remember my grandfather teaching us how to say our clan name and recite the whole thing. I was not really bothered to learn it in full as I didn't understand the big deal back then. Today is a new day I am wiser than I was yesterday I might not know the rhyme but understand the concept and importance of knowing one self  better than I ever did.

My pastor likes to say I know who I am and he encourage us to say the same. We had a meeting with him earlier this year and he said something I still quote to this day. He said "find out about us, read our history,find out about those that came before us,you will see we win all the time" he was referring to the man of old from the bible. You see if you don't know who you are you are at the risk of not living to your fullest potential.You will  let outside influence get to you. As I said in my opening sentence the outside influence cannot be denied but its people who know themselves who won't succumb to its pressure.

For instance if you are royalty you will meet commonas,and they will act like commonas but if you know yourself you will refuse to act like a nobody when you are a somebody.You will also know that to whom much is given much is required.Paul in one of his apostles said "woe to me if I don't preach the gospel, this speaks volumes about the man and how he understood not just his self worth but purpose. The man knew himself so well he put his life on the line.He understood he will be held accountable at his level, don't ever allow yourself to give in.If by any chance you do find yourself in a situation where you've compromised your identity. Do not let pride get in the way shake yourself  face the issue eye ball to eye ball and tell it exactly who you are. You will only be able to do this if you have a full  conviction of who you are,what you have and what you are capable of!

My heart  is very heavy as I  write this for reasons I will one day let you know when you read this. My desire for you is to grow up knowing and not doubting who you are.That you will walk through life knowing you might not always be like others and that it is OK. When you forget or have let an external force get the best of you,you will own up and maintain your identity. It takes courage to to be yourself!