What's in a Name

 

Christmas is coming early to our family this year. And we’re getting a Peanut!

No, not a relative of Planters Peanuts’ Mr. Peanut. But she’s a relative of ours and we are already in love.

Our youngest daughter and her husband are expecting baby #3 - this one a little girl - in mid-December. We would have been thrilled with a third grandson, but are so excited for this female variety (after having three daughters ourselves, my husband and I know how to do the girl thing!). Her parents have dubbed her “Peanut” for the duration of gestation, though I  assume she has another for-real moniker, one that mom and dad are just not yet revealing.

But, you know, even if Baby Girl’s name actually ended up to be “Peanut,” it wouldn’t change our affection for her. She belongs to us, is already a full-fledged part of our family. Doesn’t matter what she looks like, if she’ll be tall or tiny, brunette or blond, brown-eyed or blue – we love her through and through.

Her other grandma and I were discussing this phenomenon recently—how we’ve never laid eyes on this child, never met, never touched her.  Haven’t seen her smile, haven’t heard her make a sound (another assumption: I expect she will make plenty of those!!). We’ve seen blurry, fuzzy-to-us sonogram images of this wee one, but don’t know who she  resembles, the shape of her mouth or the type of her temperament. Yet we are completely, totally, absolutely smitten by this God-given miniature marvel. She’s part Durgan, part Larson—and in our hearts, that’s all it takes to make this Peanut precious, no matter what her real name is.

When Jesus Christ came into the world many Christmases ago, this precious God-Man came with many names. The angel told His mother, Mary, to “give Him  the name, Jesus,” and that He  would be called the “Son of the Most High” and  the “Son of God.” The shepherds were told He was “Savior” and “Messiah, the Lord.” We know Him as “Emmanuel, God with Us,” “Prince of Peace,” “Light of the World,” the “Beginning and the End.” There are over 200 names and titles ascribed to Jesus, each one reflecting His nature, His character and His work.

This Image of God loves us in spite of us. We belong to Him. We are His. He knew us completely before we were born, knew our peculiarities, our peccadilloes—our sin—and loved us anyway, enough to leave His throne in heaven and come to earth on a heavenly rescue mission.

Dear Lamb of God, in Your Great Name we thank you—and we thank You for our own new little lamb, Miss Peanut!