Your calling is written on your heart in the form of your desires. Most people have lost the life of their heart and therefore lost the ability to discover their calling. This is why so many of the “calling tools” are not very helpful — personality tests, skill assessments, spiritual gift indicators. We must first get our heart back.
Gary Barkalow
Much of a man’s personality originates from his false self and is tangled up with his true self. The true self is in there, roped o just below the personality shell. But the false self often dominates.
It can be described as the person we want other people to see, or the person we wish we were so others would like us.
So, the funny guy uses humor to draw attention. The hard-charging, leader-type guy intimidates and gets things done to prove he isn’t afraid. The quiet man is not really shy; he has simply learned how to hide by being quiet and make it work for him. The know-it-all guy always has an opinion - or, as he might call it, his “two cents.” How exhausting it has been for me to maintain these caricatures in my own life! But keeping
up the pose of what I think others want to see so often feels safer than being truly myself. There is a fine line between our true personality and the one we use (or uses us) in order to adapt, “work it” or hide all in order to either conjure applause or escape questioning.
Granted, we may not know what our true self is really like when he is being held hostage by the imposter. When we are tangled up in wounded messages and faulty internal programs, it’s hard to be the men we really are.
Ask God to help you construct an observation deck, a place where you can go or he can take you where you can see and hear your false self.
An excerpt from The Heart of a Warrior Journal Workbook.
