What's My Name?

Before we went to church this morning, I had decided that my blip for today would be the lovely Magnolia tree in an avenue nearby, so we duly found the tree and I took a photograph.

Sadly the sky was grey and it was actually rather cold, so the photograph didn't look that good. However, whilst photographing the Magnolia, I looked down and saw these beautiful little Cowslips and Muscari, or Grape Hyacinth, and decided that I would blip those instead.

The name of the plant with the bright yellow flowers, is Primula veris - or common Cowslip. I looked up the meaning of the name "Cowslip" and found that it may derive from the old English for cow dung (cow pat), probably because the plants can often be found growing amongst the manure in cow pastures or it could refer to slippery or boggy ground, again a typical place for this plant to grow. I found many other names for this plant too such as Paigle, Key Flower, Fairy Cups and Mayflower, and I guess depending on where you live in the country, the name could be different.

That set me thinking of what name we are known by in the different places we frequent - in our family we may be known as Mum, Grandma or by our Christian name. When we go into a shop, we are, or should be, someone of importance but the person serving us may not even know our name. And then in our relationship with someone who loves us, we may be darling, sweetheart, my love - all terms of endearment.

Some of the other names we have owned over the years may say something about how we have been treated or how we see ourselves - wounded, rejected, failure, unloved, forsaken, outcast. But God tells us that He will give us a new name and says that we are His beloved and that He delights in us. How many of us need to hear that and believe it?

I will change your name
You shall no longer be called
Wounded, outcast, lonely or afraid

I will change your name
Your new name shall be
Confidence, joyfulness, overcoming one
Faithfulness, friend of God
One who seeks My face.
D J Butler