The ‘inbetweenness’ of who we are.

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The ‘inbetweenness’ of who we are.

Got you there with ‘inbetweenness’? Terrible word isn’t it?

But is a useful way of thinking about who we are.

We usually identify ourselves by positive statements that act as labels within categories. Thus I am male, 62, Caucasian, an Australian citizen and resident, and who is a husband, father and grandfather. The categories here are gender, age, race, citizenship and family.

Those words give an outward picture that helps ‘place’ a person. (Of course, the order of those categories and the list of what categories are included / excluded is quite revealing of the person doing the classification.)

However, such categories often fail to capture our reality. A while back I read a comment that has stayed with me and which I find useful in self-understanding and in talking with others.

That’s the ‘inbetweenness’ bit.

As well as being described by what we are, we can be described by what we are in-between.

Consider a person born in one country, who has lived in two others during formative years and who studies in yet another country. A label of political citizenship or residence makes a true statement but fails to capture the cultural identity of that person. However, if we describe that person as in the space between circles of varying sizes representing each culture / country in their past and present, we gain a richer and fuller picture.

I have found that an affirmation of ‘inbetweenness’ in identity is personally useful as I think about myself. For example, I can bring my Australian heritage and 11.5 years in Singapore alongside one another. Likewise with my pastor-teacher; teacher-pastor ministry identities.

What are you in-between?

A further thought.

If a person is only in-between, then  that can be profoundly destabilising for they are defined purely by what they are not. Talk about ‘hollow man’. On the other hand, if someone has a strong inner core grounded in their being in God and under Christ, then their inbetweenness can be a strong strength. This is a global citizen: at home with and in God and therefore enabled to be at home anywhere in his creation.