Proverbs 22:1 “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”
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. When you ask a child, especially a young child, what a mean person looks like or what a mean person does? 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 who fits that definition? Do you? If you’re a parent, you will rarely self-identify as mean, but do you ever find yourself name-calling one of your kids or your spouse? It is not a vulgar name; it is 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?
More than 900 names, titles, and descriptions of God can be found on 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.