07/29/2026
More Than a Label
Some topics simmer and build for several years before we address them. Sometimes we have so many loose ends, so much simmering in our head, that our mind gets tangled up in them at night when we should be sleeping. This is a loose end. Please bear with me as I try to unpack it. If you’ve ever moved, you know that often unpacking can be messy, and this one is especially so.
We are in an era of labels: we label by generation, by personality, by personality attributes, by nationality, by political party, by lifestyle, by life season, by age, by choices – and then we try to categorize and confine people in boxes according to their labels. Those labels have become divisions and constraints. We group and generalize rather than appreciate the unique. Is it not the unique works of art that catch your eye and your attention? That is YOU!
One of our big challenges is that often there are no objective tests or labs for many labels we toss around and there are often crossover diagnoses between personality type, mental health diagnosis. I heard a speaker once say that creative individuals are bipolar – always – to some degree. Non-linear thinkers can be categorized ADD; if they are active, they can be classified as ADHD. Maybe all “Type A” personalities are ADHD? At what degree does something become a mental health issue as opposed to a personality trait? Typically at the degree of our patience and convenience. It is convenient to label others. Sometimes whole generations are written off because they are too young, too old, too selfish to be taken seriously.
That takes us to another problem: often these are self-diagnoses or our perceptions of another person. When a child is struggling, it is easy for a parent to say, “they have xyz” and they will never…. So it becomes a limiter… Or, “I don’t know anyone in my family with this, so it must be you.” (Everyone KNOWS their own DNA is perfect, so the difficult attributes must be from their spouse?) Think about that – DNA comes from BOTH parents, and therefore, it is that combination that produces a unique mix in each child. This mis was not unknown to God when He created you and your spouse.
Ok, let’s take a step back. So, most these diagnoses are subjective and not be objectively proven. Who decides what characteristics define personality types and personality disorders? Usually, whoever is doing the diagnosis and that can vary drastically. Even professionals disagree due to the subjective criteria used to diagnose. Sometimes we want a particular diagnosis to qualify for additional help – this happens a lot with ADHD. Sometimes that label is used to write off possibilities. ie some personality types i.e. a creative or rocket scientist, often has a brain that rapid fires all over the place. They can be viewed as scatter-brained and unable to complete a task. True, they are often not linear thinkers, but they can learn to overcome that with charts, lists, drawings, or a partner who complements them to bring it together into a functional design. Some specific attributes and characteristics are limiting factors; others are obstacles to overcome. If you are in inside the line thinker, you can gather and organize all relevant thoughts inside specific boxes, if you are an out of the box thinker, that box is where you pack things you’re not using. If you are a circle thinker, you probably have piles along the edge of the circle to sort through when you return to that place. An example: a circle thinker probably has a pile at the bottom of the stairs to take up, and a pile upstairs to take down. A linear thinker might trip over those piles.
Let’s play the what if game:
What if our vision is too nearsighted?
What if we are labeling and limiting ourselves or others due to (our nearsighted perception of) a couple of crossover characteristics between personality traits and personality disorders? I remember studying personality disorders and the teacher said, “As you read these, you will see yourself, or parts of yourself, in most of them.”
WHAT IF the “experts” are wrong? What if we rip off those limiting labels and expand our vision?
What if instead of defining ourselves and others by a portion of our attributes, we look at the fullness of who God created each to be.
What if we are doing what we can do through our own understanding, instead of doing what we can only do through God’s understanding and unique gifting?
Over and over again I have seen friends fight hard and end up battered, trying to do what they want to do – often because of the status involved in that position. They ended up fighting an uphill battle every step of the way until they embraced their unique characteristics and abilities. When they found that convergence between their passion and their unique characteristics, they found peace and joy in their journey.
What if some labels aren’t our style – they don’t look good on us? For a moment, look at those labels as clothing – we try on something that is the normally the right size, but it is not right length, but it doesn’t fit well in the shoulders. Or something else might fit well in the waist or hips, but be the wrong length. We might need to make alternations, or it just might not look good on us and we would look better if we chose something else. We are not conformed to that style, to that label. Sometimes we allow others, or even ourselves to wrap so many overlapping labels on us that they become a strait-jacket limiting our ability to function. We might decide we are a size 4 and we’re really a size 8. It might fit in the length or the legs, but overall, it is a poor fit and too confining. Why do we feel we have to conform to others’ opinion of what is “right” or to try to be just like them? Imitating or trying to be someone else looks awkward on us! Choose to accept the labels that fit as both a strength and weakness, and adapt them, use them accordingly. Use them to identify, not as your identity. These labels can identify challenges: strengths, weaknesses, areas where we might need help, and areas where we excel. What if we conform to God’s standard.
Some will tell you to REBUKE certain labels, or thoughts. What if it is put there by the Holy Spirit? That can be like living in the land of de-nial. In this battle for our identity, our very soul, the Bible doesn’t tell us to ignore them, it tells us to take those thoughts captive. 2 Corinthians 103 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. Denial BUILDS strongholds in our mind – whereas confronting them, processing them, taking them captive destroys them. What if we let the knowledge of God, not lofty opinions, be the standard by which we are measured?
The Bible says I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (Psalms 139:14) It also says, “So God created man in his own image” Genesis 1:27. What does the image of God look like? Picture God creating spiritual beings (in His image), and then giving each a unique combination of His attributes.
Some of those attributes are strengths: physical and emotional gifts.
Others are guardrails keeping us in our lane.
Others are challenges, hurdles and obstacles to work through, and over.
We are created on purpose for a purpose. Imagine if the Wright brothers had created an airplane, then just drove it on the ground around town. It was designed to fly, but noone had done that yet. Some of us are trying to be great swimmers when we were created to fly – or vica versa.
To summarize:
- Choose to be who God created you to be – not how others attach a subjective, convenient label to use to control and define you.
- Own both your strengths and weaknesses: together they make you into a unique individual created by God on purpose for a purpose.
- It is not the greatness of our gifts that matters. It is the application of them. Often it is the simple gift: the childlike joy, the hug, the person who offers to help carry our load, that gives so much to so many. When we give, we also receive: joy and blessings in return. When we build up, we gain a friend instead of a project person.
- The greatest gift, is the gift of the heart – I pray daily for eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart and mind to understand in order that I can see what God wants me to see, hear what He wants me to hear, and be who He wants me to be -- so that I may do what He wants me to do. Doing, without the seeing, hearing, and heart falls short of our true gifting.
- Sometimes our dreams do not fall within our areas of strength and gifting. Sometimes those dreams are to be accomplished in community with others. Search for that gift and calling God created you for. Often our greatest weaknesses become our greatest strengths.
- Let go of your own plans and dreams: Dream God’s dream – His is far bigger and better suited for us than anything we can imagine.
