Reading and thinking...

One of the courses that I'm auditing this semester is Discipleship and Ethics.  It is not my favorite course, but it does have some interesting books and some intriguing discussions.  One of the books for the course is A Wind in the Door by L'Engle.  I read this one back over Christmas break to try to get ahead on my reading and it got the gears in my head turning, thinking about the idea of naming and being named.

When we discussed the book in class last week, I really enjoyed the discussion on naming.  Now, I'm not sure that I have the most clear definition of naming to share with you, but I would describe it something like this: to have someone affirm, either through word or action, who you were created to be.  We were created to be unique people, each with unique gifts and characteristics.  When someone sees who you are and affirms that in you, in a sense they are "naming" you.  They are helping to build your identity.

Of course, with the discussion of naming, we also had to discuss the idea of "un-naming."  In class, the definition that the professor, Mark Baker, gave was that un-naming is when the statement of who you are has a negative effect. Un-naming would be for someone to tell you that you will never amount to anything.  It is a negative effect and you may start to believe that you will actually never amount to anything, thus hindering you from becoming who God created you to be.

All of this "naming" and "un-naming" stuff gets a bit confusing, but it is so very interesting to think of how I've been named (and un-named) in my life.  For instance, I have gotten the impression from some in my life (mostly through childhood, but also in adulthood) that to be a "petite" person is to be less of a person than someone of average height or taller.  Kids bullied me in school and made jokes about my size all through school.  And today, people still just look over my head and speak only to Nathan when we're together.  That is un-naming.  It makes me feel like less than who I was created to be.  On the other hand, as a child I always received the message from my parents that I was a good kid.  I never once questioned whether they were proud of me or not.  Yes, I did do bad things sometimes, but it was never a question of whether or not I was a "good" kid.  And so my identity was shaped by that.  I knew I was a good kid so I lived up to that and became more of who I was created by God to be.  Does that make sense?  Naming and un-naming.

There are hundreds and thousands of ways that I've been named and un-named in my life.  It happens every day.  It is important to recognize where we are being named and un-named so that we can embrace our "names" and make a conscious effort to not let the "un-naming" stick.

As I was thinking about this one day, I remembered a book that I read back in high school called The Giver.  At the time, I didn't think much of it, but I started reading it again last night and it fits really well with this topic.  It has alot of naming throughout the book and it is interesting to see how the names that people are given shape who they become (both positively, if the name was a good fit, and negatively, if they chose the wrong person for the name). 

I highly recommend this book, and A Wind in the Door as well, though if I had to rate them, The Giver would rank higher on my list.  Interesting food for thought, though...