Whether a family name, biblically significant name, or
name you just LOVE, choosing first and middle names for someone is a great
honor and responsibility (I hear there’s a similar warmth and pride in naming
pets, cars, businesses, or culinary masterpieces). I love hearing the names my friends come up
with, because each name they bestow can capture their personalities and their
hopes for their children so well! Of
course, some names baffle me, usually those of celebrity children or the
redundant first and last name, i.e. William Williams. But, I digress.
It still gives me a thrill to speak each of our
son’s full names out loud—the products of careful thought, much prayer, and
many conversations in the car with Meade. These children were loved before they drew
their first breaths.
Here are a few pictures of our “ten
names,” our pile of boys we get to love and treasure:
John Meade (left) and William Warren
Warren
Baby Daniel Hightower (who is 5 years old TODAY!)
Baby Andrew Kellam
October, 2015. Michael is 1 month old.
Michael Chester at 6 months
I imagine one reason that naming children is so very special and even feels sacred is that, in this act, we are not only reflecting our Creator by imitating His work in creating us and instilling worth to us, but we are also fulfilling His command to Adam and Eve to name and steward every living creature. We are leaning into God’s intended purpose for us before sin and brokenness entered the world. It is redemptive and humanizing to name and call forth.
What’s more, Romans 8 further develops our restoration in that God our Father adopts us, giving us true family as His heirs and co-heirs with his Son, Jesus Christ. As “Christ-ians,” or “Christ followers” as a dear mentor likes to call us, we now carry our Lord’s name, despite the many ways we fall short and mar it. Christ becomes our covering, our forgiveness, our salvation, and our worth. We have been brought into the fold. We belong.
The earthly picture of adoption demonstrates this truth so well. Recently, our dear friends Megan and Dave adopted a precious 3 year old from China. Previously, this little boy had two different names, a Chinese name given by his orphanage and a name that was arbitrarily assigned to his file by the adoption network. However, once this child was brought into the Rathbone family, he was not only given his father’s name, David, and their last name but also his very own name, Elijah. This name was lovingly selected for him, just as names had been prayerfully chosen for their biological children. This name, Elijah David Rathbone, forever binds this once family-less child with his true earthly family— the family that God had picked out for this little one before he was ever conceived halfway around the world or a reality for Megan and Dave.
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| The Rathbone Children |
There is certainly power in a name; this little boy has been given the confidence and spirit of sonship, right along with his siblings, Noah, Emma, and Micah (I love how each child’s name ends with the same “ah” sound… yet another sweet stamp of Elijah’s full status as a member of the Rathbone family).
Can you believe this is how God views us? Because of His great love, we can come to Him and belong to Him like His Son Jesus, confident and unashamed. We have been given “the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent… but born of God” (John 1:12-13).
What do you need to name and call forth in this season? Moreover, how do you need to alter the way you view yourself in light of the fact that you are a beloved, chosen child of God? He is your worth. Your covering. You belong.
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| Image courtesy of http://www.childrenstorytales.com/maxwell-the-elephant/ |
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