Nicknames

Do you remember the pet rock craze?  That time when you got a smooth rock painted with a silly face and kept it on your desk or dresser as though it could contribute love and friendship to your life.  And if you participated fully in the trend, you probably called the rock by a name and talked to it as you passed by now and again.  It was a frivolous, stroke of brilliance for some human to take a free, inanimate object and assign value and worth to it by giving it a name and a face.

One of my very favorite things to do is to walk the beach and pick up beautiful, perfectly smooth white rocks.  I have gathered those stones from beaches all over the world and carried them home to my jewelry box on my dresser.  When I bend down and grab one of the stones,  I love their warmth from laying in the sun.  I love their almost human quality of soft smoothness--how comforting to hold the large flawless pebbles in my hand.  I love their pure white color with even whiter veins that run through them giving each rock it's uniqueness.  I love that
the pretty stones reminds me of one of my favorite verses in scripture--Revelation 2 :17.  "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it."  If I overcome the challenges of life, God has a nickname for me!  A name that's just between us;  a sign of our intimacy and love.

Since that verse was pointed out to me, I have often wondered what the Lord will call me-- my complicated one, my short one, my curious one....  What does God find endearing about me?  When I get my white stone what will it say?

The other day Jim and I were talking about the silly names we call each other.  We were discussing which ones we liked and where they came from and how they evolved from one name to another.  We also talked about the unspoken rule of nicknames--they do not get said in the presence of others--they are private and winsome and a sign of belonging to one another.

How lovely is it to think that God recognizes my efforts to triumph over hardships and challenges by giving me a nickname, a name that signals I am dear to Him and I belong to Him?

Peepers

Last night I heard them!  That welcomed sound that heralds the arrival of Spring--peepers. 

The peepers live in a large puddle that has gathered this time of year at the edge of our property.  We have a creek that flows in front of our large gray rock and then wanders down along the property line through some trees and shrubs that we share with the neighbor. 

I only know the little creatures are there because of their sounds.  Truthfully, I have never seen them and I don't know what color they are or how big they are.  In fact today when I looked them up in Google Images I was surprised to find out they are only an inch and a half long.  Their voices pack a punch for being so little.

Isn't faith just like the peeper?  It is unseen but there is evidence that it exists.  In the book of Hebrews faith is described as  "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."  When we hear the sound of the little amphibians we begin to hope for the warmer weather of Spring and the change of season after enduring a long Winter.  We cannot see the little creatures but we are sure they are there by their choir of churps.  Faith in God allows us to be confident, knowing He has plans and the power to carry them out.  We can be sure that God will keep His promises and that He does not change even though we cannot see Him.

The peeper is tiny but his voice is big.  In the Gospels, Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” 

When I was a young girl someone gave me a necklace with a mustard seed in a magnifying glass as a pendant.  The mustard seed was so little it was almost undetectable without the enlargement of the magnifier.  I remember being entrigued by that picture of faith -- the idea that God was willing to accept the most minute amount of my belief to do great things.  I liked that I did not have to conjure up a big bunch of faith in order to have God move. 

Oh God, take my smallest gestures of belief and turn them into a joyful chorus of hope and movement.