finding my cultural identity
Cultural identity. I've been mulling on this topic for the past several weeks and months. Not so much the identity of a specific culture, but what it means to have your identity from a transcendent culture; not a culture of this world.
As an MK (missionary kid), I find it hard to identify with one culture. Occasionally, I have an internal conflict as I find myself aligning with one culture and then another and struggle to reconcile those perspectives. But what if that doesn't really matter? What if this conflict I've had for decades is really irrelevant?
Cultural identity. I have longed to be a part of a specific culture. And at other times I have celebrated having parts of multiple cultures ingrained within me. Overall, it's insignificant.
I am a part of the Kingdom of God. That is the specific culture to which I belong. That is the culture that enables me to be a part of multiple cultures. That is my cultural identity.
Not too long ago, I was talking with a friend about some of the clothes we were wearing. We were culturally appropriate for the area we were in, which means wearing a long shapeless top to about your knees over a wraparound skirt. It's a warm place, the kind of place where you can be sitting completely still and still dripping sweat. There are days you don't want to be wearing so much material, but making that choice breaks down barriers. We joke that there is enough room in one of the tops to fit three people and we joke that when we wear the wraparound skirt and the long top we feel double bagged in large pieces of material.
Despite the discomfort, I have felt more comfortable in this outfit than any other. I have felt accepted and people have opened up to me more than any other time. I might look ridiculous in my passport culture (home country), but it helps me to fit into my visa culture (current country).
I don't want my cultural identity to be a barrier. Sometimes that means letting go of things from my worldly culture and replacing them with my cultural identity from being a part of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes it means finding a new comfortable.
It all comes back to where I draw my identity from. I want God's cultural identity to prevail in me.
As an MK (missionary kid), I find it hard to identify with one culture. Occasionally, I have an internal conflict as I find myself aligning with one culture and then another and struggle to reconcile those perspectives. But what if that doesn't really matter? What if this conflict I've had for decades is really irrelevant?
Cultural identity. I have longed to be a part of a specific culture. And at other times I have celebrated having parts of multiple cultures ingrained within me. Overall, it's insignificant.
I am a part of the Kingdom of God. That is the specific culture to which I belong. That is the culture that enables me to be a part of multiple cultures. That is my cultural identity.
Not too long ago, I was talking with a friend about some of the clothes we were wearing. We were culturally appropriate for the area we were in, which means wearing a long shapeless top to about your knees over a wraparound skirt. It's a warm place, the kind of place where you can be sitting completely still and still dripping sweat. There are days you don't want to be wearing so much material, but making that choice breaks down barriers. We joke that there is enough room in one of the tops to fit three people and we joke that when we wear the wraparound skirt and the long top we feel double bagged in large pieces of material.
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| With some friends and co-workers at a celebration |
Despite the discomfort, I have felt more comfortable in this outfit than any other. I have felt accepted and people have opened up to me more than any other time. I might look ridiculous in my passport culture (home country), but it helps me to fit into my visa culture (current country).
I don't want my cultural identity to be a barrier. Sometimes that means letting go of things from my worldly culture and replacing them with my cultural identity from being a part of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes it means finding a new comfortable.
It all comes back to where I draw my identity from. I want God's cultural identity to prevail in me.
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