Naming the Kids

Often choosing a soon-to-be-born baby’s name can create quite a stir. Parents determined to find the perfect name for their little one spend hours researching names and their meanings. In the Bible, names were often symbolic of a person’s character. God even several times changed a person’s name to indicate a personal transformation (Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter, and Saul to Paul). Clearly, the names we choose for our children are important. Names are a declaration of destiny.

However, we often forget the significance of “everyday names.” An “everyday name” is not the name you’d put on an official paper for the doctor’s office or elementary school. It’s not even your thought-through nickname. But you may mutter it under your breath or use it while telling your friends your parenting woes.

We have all heard it. Many of us do it—in the heat of the moment—without even realizing it. “My daughter is so stubborn. She never listens.” “That boy is so lazy. He’s never going to amount to much.” “Why do you have to be so....” And so forth. Yet God says that life and death are in the power of the tongue (see Prov. 18:21). In other words, we truly name our children over and over by the words we say about them on a day-to-day basis—by the adjectives we use to describe them.

Do you want to see good things in your children’s lives? Do you want them to succeed? I’m sure you do. So ask the Lord to give you His heart for them and to allow you to see pieces of their destiny. Ask Him how He will use particular aspects of their personalities for His glory. Then speak to and about your children accordingly. God has given us the power to create realities with our words. Every morning, speak out their destinies; it will change their lives (and yours). Here is an example from my life with my children.

I thank You, God, that my children are lovers of You. They are full of peace and joy, they are kind to others, and they are receptive to truth. I thank You for their sensitivity—that You are teaching them to hear Your voice, to understand spiritual matters, and to have Your heart for others. Thank You for the determined spirit in them, that You are training them to have unflinching, bold, risky faith in You and to accomplish much for Your Kingdom! Amen.

in His image

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...” (Genesis 1:1).

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image...’” (Genesis 1:26).

In the Bible, the first thing we learn about God is that He is creative—the Creator of all. God could have started the Bible (the revelation of Himself to us) with any of His attributes—His sovereignty, His omniscience, His power, His glory—yet He chose to highlight His creativity.

The first thing we learn about humanity is that we are made in God’s image. In Genesis chapter 1, all that God has revealed of Himself thus far is that He is creative (though His attributes are many). Thus, we can learn that not only are we made to be creative, but that it is a very significant part of our humanity.

For busy people, it is easy to forget our need to create. If you're a busy stay-at-home-mom like you, you may think, I’ve procreated... and now I have no time for anything else! But Genesis 1 tells us that creativity is an essential part of our humanity and our relationship with God—and we are more alive when we live “in His image.”

I certainly have seen this in small ways in my own life. I am a poet; I love both reading and writing. I also am fascinated with cooking and baking. Successfully preparing a new, fantastically tasty dish makes me almost ecstatic, especially if it looks beautiful too! Your creative outlets may be different. Perhaps you love painting or organizing or scrapbooking or building car models or rearranging your furniture...the options are myriad.

Engaging in small acts of creativity renews my excitement for life, my sense of fulfillment, and my connection to God—the Creator! It also increases my ability to connect with my husband and children because I am more alive myself and because I begin to draw out creativity in them as well.

Here’s my challenge to you: Find a small act of creativity that you enjoy and that realistically fits with your schedule, and then do it wholeheartedly and regularly! God will meet you in it, and you will be a more joyful and fulfilled person because of it!

our reward

We live in a culture that believes, at its core, that children are a burden rather than a blessing. Don’t believe me? Consider how quick people are to suggest postponing parenthood—wait until you are more financially stable, give yourselves some time to just enjoy being married, pursue your career for a while first, and so forth. While all these pursuits are valuable and valid, my point is that they betray a belief that children keep us from enjoying life to the fullest. They suck up our financial resources, place strain on our romance, and distract from our professional success.

At least, that’s what the world thinks. And for a long time, though I may not have put it in exactly those terms, I believed it too. If I was honest, I wasn’t really sure I wanted to have kids. And if I was really, really honest, it was because of how much it would cost me. (Fortunately, God changed my heart!)

God thinks differently than we do. Look what He says about children: “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward” (Psalm 127:3). This doesn’t apply only to children born in ideal circumstances, but to all children. He names all children, reward! That is strong language!

I believe being a parent is the hardest job. Ever. In the middle of the stress, it’s easy to forget that I’m handling precious material—my rewards. It’s easy to be frustrated, to lose my cool, to obsess over household activities, to complain about my daughter’s attitude or my son’s aggression—really, to forget the incredible value intrinsic in each of these little people running around my home.

It’s like I’ve won the lottery. And my prize is three (so far!) unique, made-in-the-image-of-God children. God is trusting me with His rewards, trusting me to shape them gently, to love them into greatness in Him. What an incredible prize; what an unbelievable honor!