By Kristyn Sleeseman, associate director of student financial aid
Scripture: Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16 (NRSV)
Names have always been important to me. Understanding how to pronounce the name of each person that I meet has always mattered to me.
Picking our daughter’s name was no easy task. We spent hours on name games where we would shout out names and give a thumbs up or a thumbs down. After playing this game many times we finally agreed on a name. Kathryn. We looked up the meaning shortly after the name was chosen: pure, clean, chaste. Perfect.
Fast forward five years to a lovely spring evening at Kathryn’s summer daycare open house. As we were leaving, the director of the program innocently asked Kathryn what name she preferred to be called. Not missing a beat, Kathryn’s answer was Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn it was, every day from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, during her time at day care. It wasn’t easy for me to remember but I played along. Being a curious person, I looked up the name Kaitlyn and was nicely surprised that it too meant pure, clean, chaste. Nicely done, Kathryn.
This story reminds me of today’s Scripture.
I love God’s words to Abram/Abraham.
I love God’s intimacy with Abram/Abraham.
I love God’s honesty and relationship with Abram/Abraham.
What are some names that you have been called or have called yourself throughout your life. Names like not Good Enough, Stupid, Ugly, Confused, Not Worthy, Failure, Lazy, Rejected, and the list goes on.
Here is the Good News.
God’s name for you today is Worthy, Loved, Capable, Productive, Beautiful, Wanted, Precious, Adored, and the list goes on. What is your response to the Lord today?
My prayer for you today is, “that you may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 4:18-19
Scripture: Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16 (NRSV)
“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”