My Name is Jonas...

I am the worst at remembering names. I run whole class social skills lessons at my school with kindergarteners and second graders. When I start my lessons in September, I tell the kids that I am terrible with names. I feel badly when I don’t remember their names. Their little faces scrunch up. Sometimes I feel like they might start crying. It’s important for us to be remembered. It’s important to be called by name. 

When we go through life so often it can feel like we are just another face in the crowd. There’s nothing special about us. Our name isn’t even important enough for someone to learn and remember. If they can’t take the effort to even learn our name, why would they want anything else to do with us?

Kids feel the same way. Amelia has an adult in her life that can never remember her name. This person hardly ever uses it and if she does call for her, it is often the wrong name. Amelia pretends it doesn’t hurt her feelings but I can tell it does. Amelia works hard for this particular adult. And Amelia takes pride in her work for this person, has interacted with her for years, so to not have this person be able to remember her name, I know it hurts Amelia. I try and explain to Amelia that it doesn’t have anything to do with how this person feels about Amelia. It’s not a reflection on Amelia’s performance. Some people just aren’t good with names.

Amelia got in the car yesterday and was just beaming. “Mommy! She remembered my name! She looked at me and thought hard and she remembered!” That small gesture was enough to make Amelia’s spirits soar for the rest of that day. She was thrilled 

It’s important for people to remember us. To at the very least remember our names. But that’s hard. We are human. Our brains are full of information that we use each and every day. And names can be so confusing. My kindergarten class has three or four girls who have names that start with the letter “E.” I get those confused often. Doesn’t make it any less terrible that I cannot remember their names. Amelia’s reaction is proof of that. 

Prayers of praise that we have someone who calls us by name each and every time. Someone who speaks our name often. Whispers it into our ear when we need encouragement. Even has our names written in His book. God knows our names. He never forgets. He always knows when we need to hear His voice. When we need that someone to come through and make us feel special. To make us feel important. He knows us and calls us by name. It says so in the Bible. Isaiah 43:1 says “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” We are His. We belong to Him and he calls us by name. We are special and important and He loves us so. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will always know our name. We are precious in His sight. We are His sons and daughters. Heirs to His throne in heaven. What an amazing feeling to be loved that much by someone!

So, pause and listen! Listen for His whisper in your ear, showing you that He loves you and calls you by name. He cares so very much for you! And He will never forget your name. 

In the meantime, I will sit with my babies at school and try to show them the same example of love and kindness that our Heavenly Father shows us. They are important to me. And I will learn their names. It might be May or June. But I’ll get it eventually.