Knowing my Name

What is your name? Obviously we all have the names our parents gave us at birth, but if you were assigned to an adjective or attribute, what would it be? 

I hope that when my time on earth is through, my name will be Faithful. Strong.  Persevering. But admittedly, in my current state my name is more often than not Scattered, Timid or Selfish. 

It's a gradual process, defining what my name truly is. 

I was chatting with someone yesterday about how people tend to flake on church attendance. Every church seems to have the faithful fold, and then there are always a dozen or so names of folks who would be so valuable and such a blessing to the congregation if they made it over on a weekly basis. The same holds true for Royal Stage - we always have our solid core, our floaters and our newbies. 

Women tend to be exceptionally guilty offenders of routine and reliability. Myself included. There are birthday parties, potlucks, board meetings, school field trips, work commitments, ill relatives, friends in crisis, kids to care for, cars that need repairs, groceries that need to be purchased, dinners to cook, clothes to wash, thank you letters to write, homework to look over, schedules to be made (and then broken), Sunday school to teach, gatherings to plan and so much more.....us girls tend to become the social and emotional spokesmodels for our families - and too often we give everyone a fragment of ourselves until there's nothing left for what truly matters. 

I really admire women in my life who know what their name is. They know it is God-fearing. Mother. Wife. Mentor. Friend. They aren't going for a lengthy title - they are simply content to be whatever God chooses to call them. 

I wonder how life would change if the rest of us were able to slow down and learn to hear our name. If we just stopped the world for a bit and reprioritized our lives to put God first, family second, relationships third, and everything else as details. 

I know it's hard. I know it's not popular in the world we live in. Nonetheless, I am trying my darndest to slow down and really love God fully, and trust Him to then expand my heart and my time to include everything else He's called me to.

I want my name at the end of the day to be "His." 

Speaking of names, Sam has decided his name is short for Samson (it isn't) and that we simply forgot to tell him (we didn't). He wrote us this precious letter the other day - totally unprompted, which is always the absolute best. In the words of my friend's husband, maybe we don't suck at this parenting thing.