Child of Mine

Isaiah 43:1 … "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

What’s your name? How many times in our life are we asked that question? I for one have had to spell for first name for everyone and my maiden name and now my married name. When we name our children we want them to be unique, but then come to find out that there are 5 other children with that same name in their kindergarten class. Did you have your child’s name picked out before they were born or did you wait to see what they looked like?

In the 60’s it seemed like the thing to do was to give your kids names that all stated with the same letter. 3 out of 4 of my siblings all start with “S”. The kids in my husband’s family all start with “J”. Now if it wasn’t enough that people would get kids mixed up anyway – now they have the added benefit of names sounding alike.

The Lord knew our name before we were born. We may have one name on our birth certificate, but we probably answer to many other names.

We also have many names for God: Father, Lord, Emmanuel.

But when you boil it all down aren’t we really all the same? Aren’t we all sisters and brothers in Christ? Isn’t it what really matters is that we know that whose children we really are? And I’m sure when we truly see the Lord face to face, we will know our name. He will have his arms stretched wide and will say “Welcome Home, Child of Mine”.

(Inspired by Shawn who passed away last week after a courageous battle with cancer at the age of 37 leaving a loving wife and two daughters, ages 5 and 8)