the power of naming

"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words (or names) will never hurt me."

Yeah, right. And with a name, Adam doomed the anteater to a life of groveling, and God changed a man from a cheater to a father of nations (Jacob - Israel)

I’m thinking brand names in our own time - Hershey, Cadbury or Nestle = chocolate. Starbucks = the lifestyle of a whole generation. Martha Stewart Living = how the mighty have fallen.

Often, naming is the impetus behind writing. Rick DeMarinis in his book The Art and Craft of the Short Story says, "Something happens to people destined for a life of writing that has nothing to do with Literature. It happens early in life and is probably the psychological equivalent of scarlet fever. It has to do with pain....Unhappy children (unhappy for whatever reasons – from physical abuse to psychological abandonment) grow up with the potentially destructive feeling that they have to seize the right to
exist.... Then something else happens. We find that words can be an escape from the pain of social impotence. Words became, for me, a bright mantle of power" (pp. 2,3).

Letter to the editor writers prove this. I found these in two recent local rags: policies - "short-sighted," a political leader - "a simpleton and puppet," his aides - "puppeteers," notions - "perverted," rallying cries - "disgusting," an action "reflex" and "program-induced."

All that to say, the names I choose for things - from characters, to places, to story, poem and book titles - deserve a lot of thought. So does the way I name (and here I mean, not literal name, but label) my family member, friend, neighbor, and the stranger. As a writer - a person who makes a life work of naming things - I want people who read my name in the by-line to think love, redemption, hope.

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A Bible Minute

I was thinking along the lines of ‘naming’ above, this morning when I came across the following in my Quiet Time: "When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, 'The Lord is with you mighty warrior.'" (Judges 6:12).

And so a destiny was spoken into being.

I ask myself - what would I wish the Lord to call me? "The Lord is with you - tender mother? loyal friend? woman of wisdom?" Hey, I like that latter. What if He actually came into my room, here, and audibly spoke those words over me? I wonder, would my life change to the extent Gideon’s did - transforming him from someone cautious, tentative and fearful to an actual mighty warrior - whose reputation preceded him (Judges 7:14,15)?

God, what is Your name for me? I’d like to know. You don’t have to appear in person and say it out loud - a whisper will be fine.