What's in a name part 2

 For those of you interested in the process of listening to God here's how I landed on thinking about names.   Ive recently been childminding a little boy called Lewis.  He is 7.  He lives a couple of doors down from us and is the eldest of three.  His Mum and Dad have both been trying to work from home since March and were struggling to do the homeschooling thing so I offered to help out.  Ive been doing his homework with him and generally hanging out and having fun.  Lewis and I are best pals and he will no doubt feature in these blogs as we go along as he is about the only person outside my family Ive seen for months  😁 

 Anyhow, it comes to thinking about Christmas and I decided Id quite like to get him a wee something with his name on it.  You know, a mug or a keyring or something.  You'd think that would be quite straightforward wouldnt you?  But no, apparently Lewis isnt a common enough name to feature on these kids Christmas things you see hanging on revolving stands in the Christmas shops.  Once Id had a look in a few places and realised Lewis was going to be one of those kids who missed out on having something with their name on it, it became a bit of a mission to find something.   I did, eventually.   A torch with a light on it which he will like.  But in the hunt through racks and rails of other names it got me thinking about who decides which names to manufacture.   I suppose it probably has to do with the 100 most popular names for girls and boys in any given year.  But some kids are never going to find their name on commercially made things.  I know a Kit, a Cora, a Leona, a Vivienne, a Roy, an Amy-Rose, a Lena....... and so on.  Even my own name, Caroline ( bet some of you didnt know that!!) is pretty rare these days.  Names.  At some point in the search for Lewis God started nudging me to take a closer look.  And here we are!    

I dont know about you, but I was never mad keen on my own name.  My parents took weeks to decide on a name for me because they each had strong opinions and couldn't agree.  My Dad wanted me to be Heather, my Mum liked Wendy. Eventually they picked my name out of the ' births' column in the local paper.  Someone else had called their daughter Caroline Louise.  They both liked that, so that was what they called me.  Nothing very spiritual about that is there?   Perhaps you have mixed feelings about your own name.  Or perhaps you really hate your name.

The thing is though, I strongly believe that God is firmly in control when it comes to how we are given our names.  It might all seem a bit random or down to the personal likes of our parents, but in fact the God who sets great store by naming things has had a hand in naming you.

A few years ago I got talking to a lady in church who hated her name.  She was an older lady called Drusilla.  Everyone called her Dru.  She was a really lovely lady with a proper twinkle in her eye and a passion in her heart for Jesus.  But she had been bullied as a child because as she was growing up the Disney film Cinderella was released and one of the ugly sisters was named......Drusilla.  As a result she felt deeply unhappy with her name and had carried that unhappiness with her throughout her life.   I was saddened by this story and came home to have a look in my book of baby names to see what it said about the meaning of Drusilla.   Guess what?  Drusilla has it's roots in Latin and means ' fruitful'  😁

I went back to church the following week and told Drusilla what her name meant.  She cried.  Nobody had ever told her before that God had chosen her name and given it to her as a blessing not a curse.  She had been a most fruitful lady throughout her life and her legacy of fruitfulness continues to this day several years after she died. 

What does your name mean?  Have you ever looked it up or asked God why you are named as you are?

Just yesterday talking to a friend about all this she was saying that when she named her daughter she wasn't really thinking about the meaning of her name, she just picked it because she and her husband both liked it.  But for her second she was more keen to pick a name with meaning.  She named her firstborn Cora.  '  That doesnt mean anything really, its just a pretty name isnt it?'  I grabbed my phone and Googled Cora.  It means ' just, honest, virtuous and good.'   She was amazed.  I wasn't.  God knows even when we dont.

My name Caroline is of the same root as Charles and is to do with kingship, authority, ruling and reigning.  I aspire to all of that, and God saw me even as my parents were picking my name out of the newspaper and, I believe, directed them to my name without them realising it. 

Of course, it goes without saying that there's a line around all of this stuff and across that line is a realm of superstition and nonsense that we don't want to cross into.  This isn't magic.  Names are not talismans.  God tells us that we are all going to get new names when we are in heaven with Him ( names are even important when we will no longer have need of them because we shall be known and seen and embraced as sons without the need for labels - interesting that isnt it?)  (Rev 2:17)(Rev 3:12)(Isa 62:2)(Isa 65:15)   God can also change someone's name - he did this for Abraham, Sarah, Jacob and Simon.   So I guess if you really can't make peace with your given name you can always ask God what He calls you and go by that instead .

On Sunday Chris wrote this in the comments of day 1 of the blog

I was sharing some weeks back on the Prayer of Jabez. His name means 'born in pain' and part of his prayer was that he would not fulfil the meaning of his name and be in pain himself / cause others pain!

Dear old Jabez hated his name, but as a result of his prayers about those feelings he gets recorded in the Bible for all time and prays one of the more significant prayers in scripture.  😃

You might know what your name means.  You might think you know.  Or you might never have thought about it before.  Look it up. If you find something confusing or disappointing look again.  Trust that the God who has YOUR name written on the palm of His hand in nail marks knows you and calls you by your name.  The name He calls you might not be the one you call yourself.  He might call you precious.  Or treasured.  Or brave one.  Or endlessly patient.  Listen for the name He whispers to you in the secret place. And wear your name with pride