Mean people are the WORST! They just are. Sorry for being so direct, but it fits. I don’t know what the percentages are, but I’m sure there are more nice people than mean people in the world. Now, it depends on the circles you operate in, but we all rub shoulders with this demographic of people daily, or at least weekly. Young kids tend to classify adults into two categories: mean or nice. Adults can avoid mean people, but kids have a harder time. Webster brings clarity to the word mean. Words like unkind, spiteful, or unfair dominate the definition list. And when you ask a child, especially a young child, what does a mean person look like or what does a mean person do? Their answer most often has to do with people who call someone else a name. Name calling is just plain mean.
Okay, here’s the money question: Do you know any parent that fits that definition? Do you? If you’re a parent, you will rarely self-identity as mean, but do you ever find yourself name calling one of your kids or your spouse? Not a vulgar name, just a descriptive name that diminishes rather than builds up. L.M Montgomery once said, “I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I’ve never been able to believe it. I don’t believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.”
The sweetest sound that a baby, child, or adult will hear is their name from the lips of the people closest to them. The people charged with protecting them, teaching them and loving them. How are you doing?
There are more than 900 names, titles and descriptions of God found in the pages of the Scripture. Each one gives new clarity to our understanding of God. Each one is beautiful. Each one is descriptive. Each one causes me to fall deeper and deeper into my love relationship with God. Here’s a challenge for us all. Could you come up with 900 positive, beautiful, and descriptive names for your children? For your spouse? Well, now you’ve got homework to do.