By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer
My friend Jill is a name dropper. She raises Nigerian Dwarf Goats on her Kentucky farm, Sinai Thunder, and she drops a blessing on each animal born on the farm.
As animal breeders do, Jill gives each kid a name that refers back to the dam and sire. This tiny girl is Twinkle lil Star, one of quints. But Jill also makes sure each name is a blessing that points to God.
A few examples are: Sinai Thunder Chariots of Fire, called Cherry; Sinai Thunder Breath of Heaven, called Heaven, Sinai Thunder Miracle of Grace, called Gracie, and Sinai Thunder AD Luke, called Lukie.
She also has Redemption, Charity, Queen of Sheba, a buck named Agnus Dei, and a truckload of others. Did I mention she has 100 goats?
When Jill buys a goat from another breeder, the original name comes with it. Sometimes she tweaks the name on the pedigree if it’s an uncomfortably “negative” moniker.
However, she always “drops” an unlovely name from her day-to-day handling of the animals, and instead, blesses each of them with a new name.
One doe’s original name was Voodoo Princess. This pretty mama is now called Queenie – an upgrade in status as well as a blessing.
After considering the way Jill blesses her kids with godly names, I realized that God did this with His kids, too. He dropped names all the time.
Remember Jacob who was renamed Israel? How about Abram and Sarai who became Abraham and Sarah?
In the New Testament Saul became Paul and Simon became Peter.
Name-dropping changed these people’s lives and probably also changed the way others regarded them.
So I wonder—what names should I be dropping from my vocabulary as well as dropping into people’s lives? Have I tagged people with curses rather than blessings?
What do I call the children I’m around? Little Monster? Trouble-maker? Do I really want a child to carry those labels, or worse yet, live up to them?
I plan to do some name-dropping this spring. How about you? Let’s drop a few blessings on those we come in contact with and see what a difference it makes.
Grandma Charity (front), daughter Breath of Heaven (back right) and grandkids Cherry aka Chariots of Fire and Paradise.
One of nine novellas in The Cowboy’s Bride, “The Wrangler’s Woman” tells the story of widowed rancher Josiah Hanacker who hires spinster Corra Jameson as a lady-trainer for his young daughter, Jess. He fears losing Jess to his wife’s sister if the girl doesn’t meet her aunt’s ladylike expectations. Turns out, Corra has everything Josiah needs for his daughter. He just never figured she’d have what he needed for himself.
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