Names are tricky things. And yet everything seems to have them. People, places, objects. Moving here to Alice I've got tons of names to learn and it's been kind of exciting. Normally, I'm very good with names so I do have that in my favor, but when you're the only one in the church that doesn't know everyone and everyone knows your name it can be a bit tricky. There are also a lot of new names, ones that you don't hear everyday in the US, so that makes it tricky too. But, overall that's just the start to building relationships isn't it.
Knowing someones' name is an important first step in knowing them. That's why it's important to learn names, and perhaps why it can be really hard to do. You can learn a lot of things about a person and forget them and it won't really matter, but forget their name and the very basis for starting a conversation with them or having one about them becomes very difficult.
You know that old love song that says, "I think I love you, now won't you tell me your name." The ridiculousness of that phrase is what makes the song really. We all know you can't love someone fully or well if you do not know their name. Especially not the way he's describing, speed romance.
This got me thinking about God's names and how descriptive they are of who he is. Scripture is full of names for God which tell us about him and his nature. The Lord Our Provider, The Creator, God Sufficient, The Saviour, The King. So many and all highly descriptive of who God is and what He does. I think as a Christian it is important that we know these names and the meanings so that we can better know our God.
And in a similar way isn't it incredible that He knows our names! Each one of us He knows by a name He gave us. And in John it talks about Him as the Good Shepherd who calls each of us by name and we follow Him (John 10:3). What an amazing God that loves us enough to know us by name. Even though we are, who we are and we have done nothing to earn His affections or His attentions. What a Father and Friend He is to us!
Thanks for reading,
Shannon
Please pray with me for clarity about what God wants me to do while I'm here in Alice.
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Praying for you Shannon. I have to admit you were on my heart today and my thought was "At least Shannon has clarity in her life right now." I see even when you know your at the right place, we can never stop seeking the Lord and asking for His guidance daily. Each day the Lord is calling us...we need to ALWAYS be listening. Thanks for the reminder that He does know us by name...meaning He does want to know us!
ReplyDeleteBeen thinking on what you wrote...
ReplyDeleteI keep coming back to what is was like choosing a name as expectant parents. How do you pick a name for someone you haven't met ? You make your choice based on a few things. You should like the name, it should have some special meaning, it shouldn't remind you of someone negative. So you pick a name, hoping that your child will grow into it. But what happens instead is the name grows into the child... So much so that when you meet someone else with the same name, it seems strange at first, because they just don't fit it.
I know there is more to this, but Dad just got home, so I'll think on it some more, and add to it when I can!
Love you, Shannon Elizabeth
Catherine Lois