Where Am I From by Vicky Brown

Where am I from?

I am from window panes that shake in the thunder

From Sunbeam bread and Singer sewing machines

I am from the cornfields of the Midwest

Black-soiled, earthy, like the smell of a storm

I am from spring kittens

Seeking them out in the nooks and crannies of our centennial farm

I’m from family dinners and a welcoming kitchen table

From Grandma Betty’s rolls and noodles and from Grandma Cunningham’s red Tiffany lamp that I long admired - it now hangs in my house

I’m from the we don’t really talk about hard things and the wondering where that leaves me with my big and hard emotions

From “come open the gate” and “your mom sure is pretty” and then me finding that kind of help and deep love

I’m from the Methodists and then the Baptists

Where I saw God reflected in the wisdom of the women who could preach and then the being kicked out for standing up for what my childhood had proven to me over and over

I’m from the joy of noticing how hard work turns into earth’s bounty - golden fields and colorful flowers.

Iced tea at our worn Formica top, and cookie dough just because it’s fun and delicious

From the high school sweetheart romance of Allen and Susan - going strong over 50 years - 

And the town they never left and still love

Scrapbooks filled with family stories and ageless smiles and “Who’s that?”

We thumb through them at each visit and feel our feet reconnect to this world.

Imago, I am from stardust. I am from love. I am from God.

I am from the poem above that explains a bit of my childhood. I am from so much more than a poem could ever hold.

I am from unconditional love - first from my family of origin, as fraught as it feels sometimes.

And now and forever from my husband, Cory. And I suppose from my 3 teenagers, haha! (I am so proud to have come from Mama, Mommy, Mom to a now resounding “BRUH.”)

Where I am from is who I am today. But that isn’t all I am. My future is inside me, too, to be unwrapped layer by layer as I recover and rediscover my truest self.

I believe that my truest self is God in me. And I seek to know myself that I may know God. Where I am from is God, and where I am going is God.

Imago, where you are from is God, and where you are going is God. There is so much more to discover - inside all of us - and I am so honored to be on this journey with all of you. I am so proud of all of you for engaging in the hard work of self-awareness, which often begins with asking, “Where am I from?”

So, Imago, be brave in your discovery of your truest self. Be relentless in your pursuit of God in you. From experience, it is most certainly worth it.

Lean in. Breath deep. God’s love holds.