A devoted nun woke up one morning pale and shaking. Her fellow sister noticed and asked….
A devoted nun woke up one morning pale and shaking.
Her fellow sister noticed and asked, “What happened to you?”
The nun whispered, “I had the strangest dream… I was married!”
The sister smiled. “Oh, that’s not so bad. What scared you?”
The nun gulped. “It didn’t stop there… I dreamed I spent an entire night with my husband!”
The sister raised an eyebrow. “And?”
The nun clutched her chest and said, “When morning came… he asked me what I was.”
The sister looked confused.
“What do you mean?”
The nun stared at the floor.
“He looked at me and said, ‘Before we go any further, tell me who you really are.'”
The room fell silent.
The sister laughed nervously.
“That’s what frightened you?”
The nun slowly nodded.
“You don’t understand. In the dream, I couldn’t answer.”
That answer surprised her fellow sister.
“Why not? You’re a nun.”
“That’s what I thought too.”
The nun walked to the window and looked outside.
“But when he asked me who I was, I suddenly realized I had spent my entire life answering different questions.”
“What questions?”
“What do you do? Where do you live? What is your title? What is your duty?”
The sister listened quietly.
“But nobody had ever asked me who I was.”
The question haunted her.
All day she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Who was she?
Was she only a nun?
Was she only a servant?
Was she only the role she performed every day?
That night she prayed longer than usual.
Then she went to sleep.
The dream returned.
This time she was sitting across from the same husband.
He wasn’t angry.
He wasn’t demanding.
He simply waited.
“Well?” he asked gently.
“Who are you?”
The nun searched for an answer.
“I am a nun.”
The man smiled.
“No. That’s what you do.”
She hesitated.
“I am a daughter.”
“That is your relationship.”
“I am a teacher.”
“That is your work.”
The nun felt frustrated.
Every answer seemed wrong.
The man leaned forward.
“Without your title, without your duties, without anyone telling you what you should be… who are you?”
She had no answer.
Suddenly she woke up.
Again.
This time she wasn’t frightened.
She was curious.
For days she thought about the dream.
She began speaking with elderly sisters in the convent.
Many had served there for fifty years.
Some had entered when they were barely teenagers.
She asked each one the same question.
“Who are you?”
Most answered exactly as she had.
“I am a nun.”
“I am a servant of God.”
“I am a teacher.”
But when she asked them to go deeper, they paused.
One elderly sister eventually smiled.
“You know, child, it took me seventy years to answer that question.”
“What is the answer?”
The old woman pointed to her heart.
“I am someone loved by God before I earned a title.”
The younger nun was stunned.
The old sister continued.
“People spend their lives becoming things. Doctors. Teachers. Parents. Priests. Business owners.”
She smiled.
“But underneath all of that, there is a person.”
The nun felt something shift inside her.
Weeks passed.
Months passed.
The dream slowly faded.
Then one night it returned one final time.
She found herself once again sitting across from the mysterious husband.
He smiled warmly.
“Have you found your answer?”
This time she didn’t hesitate.
“Yes.”
“Who are you?”
The nun smiled.
“I am a woman who tries to do good. I am someone who makes mistakes. I am someone who learns. I am someone who loves. I am someone loved by God.”
The man nodded.
“Now you’re finally answering the question.”
The nun felt peace wash over her.
For the first time, the dream didn’t frighten her.
“Who are you?” she asked him.
The man laughed softly.
“I was never your husband.”
“Then who are you?”
The stranger stood and walked toward the light.
“I was the question.”
The nun suddenly woke.
Morning sunlight filled her room.
For the first time in weeks, she wasn’t shaking.
She wasn’t afraid.
She wasn’t confused.
She simply smiled.
Later that day, her fellow sister asked, “Did you have that strange dream again?”
The nun nodded.
“And?”
The nun looked out the window and smiled.
“It finally ended.”
“What happened?”
The nun replied,
“I stopped looking for an answer in my title and found it in my soul.”
And from that day forward, whenever someone asked who she was, she never began with what she did.
She began with who she had become.
THE END
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