TODAY THE WORDS are WHAT’S IN A NAME? Let us take a little time today and pull off our false armors of who we are and truly reflect the inner soul and not our exterior superficial shells for a great lesson in life. To illustrate this point, let’s go back to my childhood. My last name was Lott and I have absolutely no reason to shy from this name. I was more concerned that I didn’t have a middle name like some of my friends had and there is no cute nickname to go from Arline so it was a good thing that I was close to my Dad who I was named after (His name being Arlie). Apparently, the “Lotts” who were more affluent were younger, so I didn’t have many of my distant relatives in school with me. Ha, most every family were affluent than ours, but I am not complaining; we made it fine on little. As my history teacher told me, I came from an important family in Coffee County and he showed me that two Lott brothers settled Coffee County. Wow, now I was getting somewhere; I was offspring from some big folks! When I grew up and got married and went from Lott to Smith (okay, you can see I was destined to have short names), and would tell someone my maiden name was Lott, they were confused as apparently one Lott brother had money and for obvious reasons, it wasn’t our direct ancestor. People assumed…..first mistake…..that I came from the “rich folks”. As I see it, the name made no difference as I am what I am; no more no less no matter which “Lott” I came from. Here is that deeper thought…….Our last name should really be God as we all come from Our Creator and we all are from one family. We have been created in His Likeness and our Human Heritage gives us the difference in race, color, cultures, and sometimes faith. When our earthly last names are stripped; we are all God’s children. When I married and became a Smith, then Cunningham, and now Miller (okay, it took me some time to settle into a happy married life) I am still the same child of God. As humans, we put entirely too much emphasis on names. Don’t get me wrong; I am proud of my maiden name and heritage the same as if my last name had been Rockefeller, Kennedy, etc. Think of the hard time if my name had been Hitler…see where I am going. We need to accept each one of us as one of God’s children. Some children act up and we don’t have to agree with their bad behavior; we need to still practice God’s love. What’s in a name; it is nothing but a game. What’s in love; God’s reach from above.
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.
(c) copyright 2013 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission.
