My name

I have a name. It was given to me by my parents. I like my name, though I have plenty of friends who call me by nick-names. They vary, and I can tell how long I have known a person by the nick-name they use to identify me.

But there is one name which only my wife may call me. And I'm not going to print that here - but if you know me at all, you have heard it used. I like the fact that it is a special name, and I like to hear her call me by that special name. It can warm my heart, and bring a smile to my face. I believe that people who will not let you call them by certain names or use their names in certain ways are far more self-centered or perhaps prideful than they realize, so I try not to be that way. You really can call me by just about anything and I will respond without going crazy, but I do like to reserve that one name for my beloved wife. I do it to preserve the name's special nature for a special person.

I have a heavenly Father. He has given me a name as well. I have to work so very much harder to hear this name - it only comes in prayer. And, like my nick-names, it has a certain amount of variety. But the variety here is not due to the fickle nature of the One who calls me - because the Lord is not fickle. The variety is due to the fact that the name by which the Lord calls me is dependent upon what I need to hear.

So - those times I feel my value has slipped to an all-time low, He calls me "Worthy." Because in Him, I have tremendous worth - and at the same time I am encouraged to know that I have worth, I am also humbled to know that any worth I may have is all because of Him.

That is so different than the way the world speaks to us. If the world were to make up a name for us - as they sometimes do - they would base that name upon things such as success, position, what we can do for them, etc. Only people who love me or are otherwise close to me call me by a name which represents relationship.

And being called "Son" by my heavenly father is enough to bring joy to my heart for eternity.