WHAT’S YOUR BRAND?
Marketing firms and advertising agencies have worked on campaigns all year long to secure consumer sales for this month of December.  “Branding” is huge.  A simple logo or a catchy jingle can motivate shoppers to buy a brand-name item.

Have you ever considered that you have a “brand” as well? You operate in a way that reflects your personal outlook, confidence and priorities.  In general, your embodiment of these things is fairly consistent, and whether you like it or not, others buy the brand you display.

Allow me to explain . . . I was in New York City this weekend, and the weather went from 50 degrees and sunny to 35 and snowing overnight.  Suddenly, my cute SoCal boots were woefully inadequate; I had no choice but to don my tennis shoes and workout pants and hit Bloomie’s to soak up some holiday spirit. However, my ‘brand’ said ‘ill-dressed, under-dressed, fashion-challenged and awkward’.  Consequently, I found myself getting little consideration from the Manhattan sales clerks.  I wanted to put on a tee shirt that said, “Sorry . . . traveling . . . this is all I have . . . usually, I have good fashion sense!”

A silly thing, really.  However, we all have a brand—a personal brand that we own and model with regularity.  Sometimes, it goes askew.  The male, sole provider of his family has been out of work for months, and he is worried.  He has huge doubts about himself, and goes so far as to think, ‘I’ve become worthless.’  Worthless?  Is that the name you have assumed?

And then there is the accomplished engineer who logs long days with little more than work on his mind . . . on a remote project, far from home and feeling lonely, he begins to doubt who he is . . . and his real value.  He sees himself as ‘defeated’.

The voice on the other end of the line is emotional and unsure—‘please, I know it is late, but I just have to ask if you can see me for a few minutes—I just know you can help me . . . please?’  ‘Okay,’ I answer.  ‘I can see you for a few minutes . . . sure, come on by.’  ‘Well you see, I found these letters in my husband’s car—from a woman,’ she said.     ‘When I finally got the nerve to ask him about them, he said, ‘yeah, I’m having an affair. . . truth is, I don’t want to be married to you.  I don’t love you anymore.’’  Her eyes were brimming with tears as she asked me what she should do, ‘He doesn’t want me anymore,’ my beautiful friend said. ‘Rejected’ – the brand she assumed.

Worthless.  Defeated.  Rejected.  Personal brands I’ve heard in the last week.  They evoked within me a deep physiological reaction—one that took some thinking.  Then it hit me.  Their branding was all wrong.  You see, as believers, we should only take our branding from our Lord.  It is He who gives us our value; and it is in Him we find our identity.

‘In Him we live and move and have our being.’  Acts 17.28
‘He takes great delight in you.’  Zephaniah 3.17

and if I ‘Delight myself in the Lord, He will give me the desires of my heart.’ Psalm 37.4
and if a feeling of oppression is weighing me down—because of circumstances, or because a primary relationship is crumbling,
                      I need to know how to get free!
Jesus Himself said,
 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  Luke 19.10
He came to preach freedom to the captive, sight to the blind. . . Luke 4.18

What is your brand?
If it is all messed up, maybe you need to ask Your Creator for a new brand—
better yet, ask him for a new name, (Isaiah 62.2)

and see yourself as the almighty God sees you.


Brand . . . Bloomingdale’s has one . . .
            Abercrombie and Fitch has one . . .
            Nike has one . . .
                         and so do you.
Think about it.  Write down a few synonyms that capture you, and offer them to God.  Let Him do a ‘rewrite’ and give you back some right thinking . . . a God-given brand.

Yes, I did a little thinking while in New York, and it still came back to you!
God bless you and keep you,
Christine