Multifaceted
Identity's Many Faces
Each of us has been asked many times to introduce ourselves. “Tell everyone who you are.” My unspoken response is, “How much time do you have?” I am multifaceted; my identity has many faces.
My Mysterious Mind
“Who are you?” I use this question in my first meeting with a doctoral student. Before helping them choose a topic for a dissertation, I want to know about them. It’s also delightful to watch each one struggle deciding what identities to share with me. Do I want to know about their professional identities? Yes. Am I interested in their personal identities, such as spouse or parent? Of course. Would I like to hear about where they grew up? Yes again.
There are many answers to a question of “who are you?” because each of us has a multifaceted personality. I am a daughter, daughter-in-law, wife, mother, sister-in-law, sister, grandma, aunt, niece, and cousin. My professional identities include professor, dissertation advisor, mentor, past Faculty Senate Chair, and emeritus faculty. I am a lover of rocks and wildflowers. In the realm of food, I am a mushroom-hater and a coffee-drinker. Because you read my words, I am a writer. Ever since I became a CostCo member, I am also a “prepper” because I know buy things in a minimum of a six-months supply. And most days I am a Kansas City Chiefs fan. But these are just a few of the facets of my identity!
I’ve led many groups of people through get-acquainted activities. Exchanging information about each other reveals identities we have in common. From where we grew up to the hobbies we enjoy, people try to find places of connection in their identities. A colleague and I recently discovered we grew up in the same small town in Missouri but never knew each other. A part of our identities is irreversibly connected now. Somehow the world becomes cozier when I can see myself reflected in something about you.
In a Bible study about Daniel, a recent homework question was “Personally, how do you define your identity?” This was the second part of a question about the parts of Daniel’s identity that the Babylonians stripped when he was taken captive. I answered the question with a list of identities, much like I did a couple of paragraphs ago. One of the women in the group challenged my answer because I hadn’t just said my identity is in Christ. When I became defensive, the group leader joined in the effort to convince me of my incorrect answer. Ultimately, I said I disagreed and supported my answer with a statement of my multifaceted identity having been designed by Jesus.
Who I am is like a beautiful gemstone with a myriad of reflective surfaces. Each of those many facets is a part of who I am, though my core is singular. Other people can see themselves in things about me, reflections of their multifaceted identity.
Who are you? Each of us is one person, made of a primary substance from which all our identity’s many faces are shaped. As you consider your multifaceted identity, what are you at the core?
Message of Mystery Acres
Who am I in the forest? Away from the many identities I have in my complex life, I am a simpler version of myself at Mystery Acres. The forest, also, offers itself to me with one identity.
However, the core identity of Mystery Acres has many faces. Like a multifaceted gemstone, the forest is one thing and many things. There are trees, mostly hickories and oaks, the primary expression of “forest identity.” The forest floor is rich with botanical life, such as wildflowers, moss, and fungus. The abundance of rocks is also complex, consisting of Weaubleau eggs, rocks with fossils, and prehistoric stone artifacts. Each aspect of the forest’s identity can be further divided into even more facets, for example, the one hundred varieties of wildflowers that call Mystery Acres home.
And yet the forest has one identity, a multifaceted identity with many faces. Losing or gaining a few trees doesn’t change the primary identity of Mystery Acres. Such superficial changes do not erase the core identity.
The message of Mystery Acres is that identity has many faces. I, like the forest, have many facets to who I am, but, like the forest, my core identity is only one. Surface changes to the roles I play in life only adjust the faces that others see of me. There is an enduring, immutable me beneath the visible shifts. The facets may change, but the core of who I am remains the same.
Ancient Mystery’s Voice
“To those who received Him, to those believing in His name, Jesus authorized them as children of God.” (John 1:12)
I have many faces, like a multifaceted gem. Which do you see? Which face do I show you? Do you see yourself reflected in who I am? But who am I beyond the faces? What am I made of? Or who was I before I became a wife, mother, professor, grandmother, and all those other things?
My first identity was a “daughter” to my parents, simultaneously followed by “sister” to my older siblings. But after my baptism I became a child of God.
That’s my core identity, the “stuff” I’m made of. I am a multifaceted jewel set in the royal temple of the living, Almighty God; a beautiful rock built into a spiritual house with other living stones whose cornerstone is Jesus (see 1 Peter 2:5).
Note about the image. This is a rock my son found on a hiking trip and brought back for me. The lines, that form a cross when viewed from the right angle, are not just on the surface; they extend entirely through to the other side.
Ancient Mystery’s Voice reminds me of who I am beneath my multifaceted surface. Like a gem, I can have another “face” shaped on my surface, taking on another identity, but I remain a gem. When I became congregational president, I added another facet to my identity. In the same way, life can erase one of my faces, but I remain who I am at my core. At the end of this year, my identity as congregational president will end, but my primary identity will be unchanged.
Have you been experiencing changes to your identity because of shifts in the faces you must show to the world? This might be losing your identity as a spouse or gaining an identity of grandparent. Perhaps you have retired from your identity as an employee or added an identity at a new position. Who are you at the core? A multifaceted gemstone remains the same though changing on the surface. For me that consistency is found in my identity as a child of God.
Living in Mystery
What does it mean to live in the mystery of being multifaceted, with identity’s many faces? It starts with recognizing the complex nature of identity. Each of us is many things to various people in different settings while also being only one person with a core identity. Like a multifaceted gemstone, our many faces do not make us many people; we remain the same beneath the surfaces we reflect to others.
Our various faces provide ways we can connect with each other. What about me and who I am is the same as you? When someone can see themselves reflected in one of our facets that reflection is a point of connection. Finding something in common with another person makes the world feel better, each of us becomes less isolated. Showing our multifaceted identity to others provides opportunities for connection, reducing loneliness.
Who would you be if your various identities were stripped away? Life can give and take away identities, but it cannot take away the core of who you are. What is the stuff you are made of? If life removes part of who you are, who are you deep down? For me, I am a child of God. What is your core identity beneath the multifaceted surface?
Living in the mystery of a multifaceted identity means understanding yourself like a forest or a gemstone. Points of understanding and connection can happen with parts of who we are, but our identity is too complex for complete discovery. This is the beautiful mystery of the forest, a multifaceted diamond, or a person. There is always something new to explore! Revealing facets of my identity provides ways you can see yourself reflected in me, helping us feel connected and less isolated.
Beneath the many facets is a core identity, who we are behind all of our roles and faces. During times of change, it helps to remember what doesn’t change about who you are. Each of us is multifaceted, with identity’s many faces, while remaining something unchangeable beneath the surface. Like a gemstone whose shiny surfaces might change, being a child of God provides a stable core of identity.
Connecting with Mystery
Dear Lord of All Mystery, thank You for the multifaceted beauty of the complicated forest and the intricately cut gemstone. I confess to sometimes being distracted by the faces I show the world, thinking that my identity is changing, forgetting who I am at my core. Thank You for declaring me a member of the royal family, a stone within the living temple whose cornerstone is Jesus. As a child of God, help me reflect You to the world in all my many faces. Amen.
Notes from Dr. Mac
If you want to do your own investigation of any of the scriptures I use, I suggest you go to Bible Gateway. This free online version of the Bible allows a search of words or phrases in various translations. I encourage you to ponder John 1:12 and the identity possible as a child of God through believing in Jesus.
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