You ARE Your Name! + OR -

     We've all seen the commercial....the one where a particular religion tells us at the beginning of it that-'you are not your name'- Well, I beg to diffa! Here's why....

1.) When you were born your parents gave you a name, not a number, a code, or a stamp but a name.
The government gave you a number and your birth certificate has a stamp, you probably even have a code somewhere but not your parents, family, and friends, they began to call you by your name. It would be weird to call you 'Child #1' or 'Child #4'.

2.) Here's where people don't realize the full extent of the name calling thing. As you call a person by their name they become what you are calling them. If you don't believe me, look up what your name means and see if it does not somewhat describe you.

3.) Maybe you won't readily see the parallel but if you think about it just slightly you'll see. You have to understand that you are living out your name either in a positive way or a negative way. Here's an example....I know a person whose name is Alexandria which means 'defender of the people'. In her everyday life, she takes up for the underdog, or stands up for the ones with no voice. She didn't even know what her name meant but she was living it in a positive way. In the negative she could be living her name out as a bully or manipulative person, but because of her upbringing, she has chosen a better way. On the other side, I know someone whose name means 'honey bee' which should be providing sweetness and nourishment (the product of bees) to others but instead they sting, injure, and shock people with their words and their attitudes about life. Alex, without knowing what her name meant, had decided on a career as a lawyer. Which brings me to the next thing....

4.) What your name means is usually what you were put on earth to solve or the career you are to pursue or the part you play in your generation. You will have a passion for something that your name, because you have been called that for years and you have become it, will help you accomplish it. When 2 of my grandchildren were born they moved in with my husband and I. When talking to God about it one day I heard in my spirit...."help them become what their names mean". My granddaughter's name means 'outcry'. I thought, "how do I make that something positive"? I began to understand that she would be one to stand up and cry out for righteousness sake and declare, "Make way for the coming of the Lord" as she stood on the street corners of life. Today she is a voice that cries out for the unborn child and has been seriously chastised for her stance but she still cries out. My grandson's name means 'spirit warrior'. I have to teach him this so that he does not war with people but the enemy! I do this so he will not brawl with and blast others. As a little child every time we got a souvenir he wanted a sword, to the point where he had a couple of dozen of them. It never clicked with me until one day when I was cleaning his room and I had an epiphany.

5.) When you buy a product or go to a location, it has a name. It was named that because the inventor of the product or the developer of the location wanted it to be that name to you with all of the implications. Every animal has a name, every job has a name, everything has a name and it IS what it is called.When you were born, some parents might have looked up what your name meant. Some might not have, either way you have become what you were called. "But the angel said to him, 'fear not....your wife will bear you a son and you will call his name John....he will be great in the sight of the Lord....and many of the children of Israel will turn to the Lord their God'." "And the angel said to her, 'fear not, Mary....you will conceive and bring forth a son and you will call His name Jesus....He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God will give Him the throne of David'." So let me ask you....did they become their names? You bet your sweet bippy they did. It's my o but I believe God whispers into your parents hearts, your name, because He needs for you to become it. He needs you to be that for the time that you are living in.

6.) What makes you mad, what makes you cry, what makes you get up on your soapbox, what makes you blog is connected to what your name means!! + OR - your reputation is your name!! When someone says 'Hollywood' what is that reputation? 'Politicians' what is that reputation? 'Your name' what is that reputation?
If someone were to describe you in a sentence, they might describe your outward appearance, but usually it's your inside appearance.

     So, that is why I diffa with the commercial. You ARE your name....aren't you?

Lessons from my Dance Bag

     "Wow, what a mess," I thought as I dug around in my dance bag looking for what I needed. I don't know why I was thinking that, because this wasn't any different from the other times I've had to go clawing through it. My bag's got the usual stuff that dancers have to have in it, obviously shoes, all kind of shoes, very worn shoes, along with Tylenol, bobby pins, needle and thread, band-aids, ribbons, elastic, fray check, screwdriver, wrench, sweat towel, CD's, extra skirts, extra tights, extra shoes ( in case of a blow out), extra stuff, water, power bars, along with some giblet stuff on the bottom.
 
     In my bag are all the things that I might need as I do the dance thing. Now, let me say, I am a minimalist. I know it doesn't sound like it considering everything I carry around, but I am. That's why my bag looks like it does, messy and mangled. Minimalist don't like a bunch of clutter, just the necessities. I've always said that if I was stranded on a desert island all I would need would be my Bible, a knife, and some mascara and I could make it fine. But.......I have all this stuff in my bag. Did I mention that it weighs about a ton or that I can only carry it on my left shoulder? My right shoulder has never allowed me to put any strappy thing over it, it slides right off. I think that my right shoulder isn't as broad as my left.....anyway, because of the left shoulder favoritism I have a 5 degree curve on my spine that pulls to the left from all of those years that I have toted a bag around. I'm also a loyalist, I will hang tough with you and I will also hang onto a thing that I have until it is absolutely undesirable to everyone else. Just like a dance bag, I'll keep one until it just begs to be repaired or retired. 

     So, as I 'm looking at my bag and saying, "wow, what a mess",  I'm thinking that this bag is an expression of me, the contents reveal who I am and what I do. So then I think about how it's the same with my body that totes around my spirit and my soul (my will, my intellect, my emotions) and THAT REALLY can make me say, "wow, what a mess"! What do my contents say about who I really am and what I really do? I hate fake! I require genuineness from others as well as from myself. I'm like a cowboy from the old west, I shoot straight from the hip and lay all my cards out on the table. I guess that's why I can let others see the contents of my imperfect bag while my minimalist self is screaming..."I really don't live like this"!! I live by the philosophy of 'organize now or agonize later'. But yet, my contents are all jumbled.

     As part of my desire to become a better me this year, I want to clean out my bag. Throw away what's unnecessary, mend what's torn and, keep what's useful for my benefit. Unnecessary stuff would be things like, letting go of good ideas and doing God ideas instead, comparing myself among others, and letting perfectly good gifts and talents go to waste. Mending what's torn would require me to fix some breaches (not britches), patch some holey relationships, and repair some broken dreams. Lastly, things that are useful and beneficial would be to remember that, IT IS NOT ABOUT ME, none of it, name it and it isn't about me. With a world filled to capacity with others, I would say because of Him, it is about others. My dance bag is filled with necessary things so I can impact others with its contents and so am I.

 

Live Your Best Life

I was telling my sister the other day about how many people, during the holidays, had asked me how to make bread dough ornaments. Of course I was delighted to tell them because I love helping others doing useful and creative things. I was really taken back at how many I had inspired to share dough ornament making with others. One friend got her whole family together and they shaped, baked, and painted for 14 hours one Saturday! She brought the ornaments the next night to life group and I was squealing with excitement over the amazing designs they had come up with. Another wanted to have her class at school make these for a craft, and another wanted to teach her children how to make these. Another had made them before, but hadn't done it in a long time and wanted to make a Christmas craft to give as gifts. I felt like I had helped the craft fairy spread her ideals of fun and togetherness for the holidays.

As I thought about why it was so easy to share this idea with others and why many had talked to me about it, I realized that I enjoyed it, I got great satisfaction from it, and I had successful results. That's how we all do when sharing something that gets us pumped. We get descriptive and animated. We talk fast so as to get it all said. We smile, we even show pictures on our cell phones. I realized that I also made it sound intriguing which made others curious to try it.

At the same time it became clear to me that, as a Christian, I should be just as psyched to tell others about what God did for me that day, or how a prayer was answered last week, or remind someone that He's still in the healing business or that His presence is still worth getting into.

Just like I had inspired some to take the time and make the effort to begin a new tradition or revive an old one with dough ornaments being the results. I want to inspire others to live their best life with the results being way beyond bread dough!

In order for you to live your best life there will be choices concerning your inner life. Choices will dictate your behavior and your behavior will launch your destiny. What decisions have you made concerning 2010? Fill in the blank: This is the year that I will ______________________________.
Will you be a better you because of it? What needs to be simplified? Organized? Let go of? Not put off any longer? I don't want to be another year older and not any closer to my best me.