Lotus Moon W. Zeitler
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Postlude
The statement “I am ” is trickier than appears on first glance. When you say “I AM <X>” you’re saying that <X> is part of your essence. The word “Essence” is from the Latin word esse — “to be”. Think about the difference between “I garden” vs. “I am a gardener.” Or, “I play the piano” vs. “I am a pianist”.
Thus, negative “I AM” statements about yourself can be more pernicious than you might think. “I AM an angry person” is quite different from “I get angry more often than I’d like.” If you “ARE” an angry person, anger is part of your essential nature, and thus it’s going to be almost impossible for you to believe you can do something about it. But if ‘anger is something you do too much’, that’s not ‘essentially you’ and thus it’s an easier problem to tackle. A bad habit can be changed, your ‘essential nature’ — much harder!
A close cousin is identifying yourself with something bad that happened in your past, or that you did in your past. “I AM a victim,” or “I AM a convicted criminal.” Consider how different it is to say “I AM an <X> survivor“, or “I AM a former criminal.” These I AM statements allow for the possibility of healing, growth, and new beginnings.
I note in the Gospels that although Jesus said several times He had to go to Jerusalem to be crucified, He never said “I am the crucifixion.” Instead, He said “I am the resurrection!” Crucifixion is something He said would happen to Him, but Resurrection — ah, that’s part of His essential nature!
We might be wise to follow His example.