The Both-And Reality of Mestizaje

I feel both Mexican and North American! That is my reality. Tacos. Venti latte. Menudo. ESPN. Huaraches. Puma (Italian).

The reality, my life is a clash of multiple influences and I refuse to choose just one expression to identify, express, identify, who I am. Soy pocho. Soy rico. Soy pobre. I am rich and poor at the same time! I am educated and illiterate at the same time! I am legalistic and grace motivated at the same time. I am secure and insecure at the same time.

Soy Latino ( Mexican by heritage. Infulenced by my Puerto Rican & Dominican friends, brothers and sister) I am North American (Influenced by Italian, Greek, German, Dutch, Scananavian, and other cultures that still live on in the live of brothers and sister I know).

In a sense, I'm Cuban and Columbian. I'm idigenous. I am part Native American. I am African-American...At least all of these realities are a part of me in a way that feels like I belong.

And yet, at the same time, I don't belong.

Finally, I know I am saved through Christ, and yet I am still being saved, as the Holy Spirit continues to shape my life and character into the likeness of Jesus.

My world is a both - and reality, and I would not have it any other way.