Find Out Who You Are

I teach in a Spanish-speaking community and my students’ names reflect their heritage.  As I’ve gotten to know my students better, some of these have evolved into nicknames.  Estrella, which means “star”, is now “Star Girl”.  Esperanza is “Hope Girl” (are you seeing my pattern yet?).  Iris wanted a nickname too, so she started saying, “Mrs. Arkills, your Favorite Girl is here!”

A couple of Sundays ago, I was getting to know another woman on the prayer ministry team, and my students came up in the conversation.  I mentioned the nicknames as a funny anecdote and she saw it in a different way.  She believes God asks us to call out the good in people, the way He sees them.  After our chat, I felt inspired.  I went home and looked up the rest of my kids’ name meanings.  That week, I chose six names each day, and read the meanings to the class.  Then, the kids could tell that person how they see that meaning in real life.  Some meanings had to be interpreted a bit, like Edgar, who is “rich spear”.  I helped with those ones.  We tried to think of all the ways Edgar added good things / richness to our team. 

One day, a boy made some poor choices and lost some PE time.  He was sitting at his desk, just passing the time, and God gave me an idea.  This boy’s name means “brave”, so I asked him to look it up in the dictionary.    “Find out who you are,” I said.

“Faces pain or difficulty without fear,” he read out loud.  (Side Note:  way to be so eloquent, Children’s First Dictionary!)

“Whoa.  That’s pretty amazing,” I said, “Have you ever gone through something really tough and you weren’t afraid?”

“Yeah!  All the time!” he said, smiling, “Plus, my little sister is too afraid to do stuff and I have to do it for her.”

“Pretty cool!”

So now, if you were to visit our classroom, you’d meet “Brave Guy”, “Rich Guy”, “Clear Girl”, “Fairy Queen”, “Helper Dude”, and “Sadie Lady” (it’s fun when your name meaning rhymes with your name).

Whether it feels true right now or not, God tells us how He sees us.  Sometimes it fits with our name meaning and sometimes it’s deeper than that.  My name is a stream, but I once saw a bookmark that called me “refreshing one”.  I’d like to be someone who refreshes others.  I pray God will use me like He uses fresh water on the earth, to nourish what He’s planted, to bring satisfaction to people who are spiritually thirsty, …. all that good stuff.  I pray that my Brave Guy student will remember who he is whenever difficulties hit his life.  I hope he will be brave because God sees him that way, and maybe God wants to use this gifted boy in places where people are in pain.

Today, may God tell you who you are and may He bring those qualities to fruition for His good purposes.