It was sixty years ago, as I was trying to make my way through the first grade, that my mother gave me an assignment that I am still working on, “Just be yourself.”

It was around that same time that I was amazed to learn the scientific fact that no two snowflakes are alike. Of course upon the next snowfall I grabbed my magnifying glass and set out to be the kid that disproved that theory, without success.

This morning (Thursday March 22, ’18) as I read the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr’s daily devotional that comes via email, I realized that these two childhood memories are very much related. What ties them together is the word the thirteenth century Scottish theologian, John Duns Scotus, coined, “haecceity.”

Its complete definition is beyond my grasp but essentially it refers to the unique identity in each being. To put it simply, there is only one you and only one me. Or, as Father Richard puts it, “We are not one of a kind; we are one of an eternity.”

If I am on track with what Duns Scotus was saying, my mother was giving me the best advice a human could receive. I have nothing better to do with this one life than to be the person God gifted me, and me alone, to be.

To drive home the point, Rohr blew the top off the parable about the pearl of great price. You remember it. Jesus says that the kingdom is like a merchant that discovers the one pearl that is worth everything so he sells everything he has so he can obtain that one pearl. Father Richard says, “Part of our vocation is to appreciate ourselves as the pearl of great price.” Ponder that a moment. To be who God calls us to be, our true selves, is worth it all. Everything.

Every being, every human, every dog, every honeybee, every daffodil, every snowflake is one of an eternity. A sacred, precious, priceless, treasure.

So you do you and I’ll keep working on being me.