What's In a Name?

Right after college, a couple of my friends were talking about God's unique design for each of us. They encouraged me to pray that God would reveal to me a name He had chosen to describe me.

God called me Joy.

At first, I felt a quiet nudge in prayer. Not prone to faith in supernatural communication, I wasn't convinced. Until the next day I saw a giant billboard with the solitary word "JOY" written in diamonds. That day at work, I received a Christmas card and holiday pin from a co-worker. The pin simply said, "Joy." The following weekend my mom was on the phone with my aunt Penny who commented, "It was so nice to see Tiffy at the wedding. She is always full of so much JOY."

However, I haven't felt very joyful lately. And here's my conclusion. There are many voices we listen to that crowd out God's voice. These voices can be from pop culture, "You should be skinnier." They might come from family, "Why aren't you married yet?" Sometimes even our faith communities, "You can't act that way!" Regardless, they drown out the voice of He who created us to be unique displays of His character.

I wonder what God has named each of you, AND I wonder which voices you've been hearing.

Friday night, my friend Danielle and I watched Julia Robert's new movie Eat, Pray, Love. The movie is based on the memoir of a recently divorced woman who travels the world in order to find inner-peace. During her stay at a Hindu temple, Robert's character learns to not only forgive herself for past mistakes, but also learns to accept herself and all of her eccentricities. She concludes her stay in India with the statement, "God is in each of us."

In the book of Ephesians, Paul says that God has created each of us with a specific purpose. Some are meant to be teachers, some preachers, some museum curators, some engineers, some stay-at-home moms (4:11). He adds that when we come together we function as a unified body. Paul repeats the body analogy in 1 Corinthians, encouraging us each to embrace our special purpose, "If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be (12:17-18)."

I like the thought that God has chosen to create each human uniquely to portray the complexity of His character. He's quiet and patient, but also loud and passionate. He's both fierce and gentle. He exists in the serious and the crazy.

May we embrace our uniqueness and eccentricities! May we listen to the voice that speaks Truth.