2/22 Life in the Parkie Lane

Namely Names                                                                       


I never thought much about names when I was growing up. They simply helped people keep each other straight.  Sometimes last names were necessary to further differentiate people, i.e. "Johnny who?" Then I grew up, got married and our first child was on the way.  We began discussing names. It was a much more complicated process than I had imagined. I never put that much thought or effort into naming my pet frogs, turtles, rabbits, cat and dog (I never named my cars, though. They came from the factory with names).

I discovered that names have meanings. Who knew? The sound of the name, the commonality of the name and the meaning all came into play. We wanted decidedly masculine and feminine names for our kids, yet not too common or too obscure. Sometimes we discarded names we liked because they meant something we didn't like.

During the name searching times, I discovered my name meant, "kind, honest, handsome, considerate." Sometimes people live up to their names, sometimes they don't.

Remember, our identity does not come from our disability, or occupation, or physical attributes. It is our character and our name can become synonymous with our character.

Names of characters in the Bible are important many times.  The most important is, of course, Jesus. The name "Jesus" means "Savior" and Jesus lived up to His name! He died for me! And you. All we have to do is accept it. He is our Savior that wants to save all who trust in Him.

"Then Jesus… John 1:38a  "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10  


© copyright Kevin T Boekhoff


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