What a beautiful name it is

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up This week’s prompt was NAME.

I’m pretty sure the first name that ever passed my lips was Mama. And life sure changed when I became aware of my own name.

The concept of me lead to the concept of mine. You can’t expect much more from a toddler.

But then my own name remained at the center of my life for most of my childhood. Life was all about me but at least it was the truest form of me. I was Erin Leigh. Completely myself, utterly authentic. Goofy, silly, strange,creative, bossy, curious, a reader, a performer. The names in my life were Mom, Dad, Adam (my brother). It was a simple and sweet and beautiful life.

It stayed that way for many years until puberty hit and some new names entered into my vocabulary. Those names were Fat, Ugly, Loser. Those names shaped my identity and self-concept starting me down a long road of shame and hiding but also hustling for self-improvement.

I tried to earn new names to feel good about myself. Names like Straight-A Student, The Smart Girl or The Good Girl. Since I couldn’t be the name that I really wanted to be, The Pretty Girl, The Popular Girl.

Somewhere in that difficult time I was introduced to the name of Jesus. I didn’t truly know that name for many years because I wasn’t ready to. But the name of Jesus kept following me and one day I was ready. And on that day I accepted the name of Jesus and accepted that he was my Lord and Savior. Then I received a new name. My name became Beloved Daughter.

When your name changes, it takes awhile to think about yourself differently. But eventually you can embrace it and when you accept your new name as Child, Chosen, Called, you can live your life keeping the name above all names first in your life. The beautiful name of Jesus.

What a beautiful name it is.