Friday, September 23, 2011

Naming

There might be something lacking in my brain power when I have to turn to children's literature to have an aHa moment. Read on if you dare.  My aHa moment came while reading Madeleine L'Engle's, A Wind in the Door.
Meg is a Namer along with a character that is a cherubim. (just go with it:))  They work alongside one another to not only save Meg's little brother but also to restore balance to the world. 
"A Namer has to know who people are, and who they are meant to be."  Meg is faced with a test, to name the real Mr. Jenkins (the elementary school principle) when faced with 3 versions of the man.  
Meg cried rebelliously, "well, I think it's a silly kind of test."  "What you think is not the point.  What you do is what's going to count."...We don't have to know everything at once.  We just do one thing at a time, as it is given us to do." Meg, then asks how she is to perform this task.  And the answer is love.

I'm writing about this book, one found in the children's section of the bookstore not because I want to give you a book report, but because these quotes and the underlying topic of identity; how we are known, our uniqueness, and how that uniqueness is more than us, it contributes to the whole; these topics are pressing on my heart as of late.  Within the different roles we play, our Names remain the same, our identities are the same.  My identity, daughter of the King most High, never changes.  My identity isn't wife, mother, sister, friend...; those are only roles God has given me.  I believe these roles are very important, I believe they are the sacred work of the Lord in my life, but they are not who I am. 
\And, " Now the body is not made up of one part but of many, if the foot should say, 'because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?...  But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body."-1 Corinthians 12:14-18
The passage, of course, goes on to speak on how we are the body of Christ, "each one is a part of it." (vs. 27). 

After this encouragement of the importance of our work and our roles, we have 1 Corinthians 13, all our gifts and talents are nothing without love.  "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." 
Just like Meg, we must act, and what we do must be embodied with love or it will ultimately be worthless. 
But, we must remember that our salvation does not come with these good works, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
Thank you Lord that you have given me the roles and work in my life that you have ordained.  Thank you that you, being Love (1 John 4) make perfect our weak, human attempts; for You are Love, you are perfect, you are perfect acting Love! And in Naming me yours, in giving me the spirit of Love that now lives in me and my work, I can become more me by the work you have given me, the roles you have given me!

Thank you for knowing my name, for naming me yours. Thank you for opening my ears, my heart to hear your voice. You who know the name of every star, know my name and call me to yourself.
"The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice.  He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice."-John 10:3-4  And you "are not willing that any of these little ones should be lost." Matthew 18-14








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