You are the Namer

When a parent names a child, hope informs the decision, perhaps for a bright future, or for carrying on a legacy, or for a new start. Though the blend and nuance of reasons is as variable as the preferences of each parent, all are attempting to set the trajectory of the child on a good journey.

The naming of newborns is part of a greater role we have as humans. We name things. We name them not just with a view to hope, but with a view to all reality, both good and evil, for the sake of establishing life in its mature fullness. Yes, naming is an attempt at describing reality. That reality might be prophetic, retrospective, or present-tense, but in all three cases it is our attempt to describe what was and is and is to come.

From the beginning it has been so. The Maker named what He created. And when He made mankind, He “imaged” Himself into us, male and female. And what (among other things) did this “imaging” freight into us? The capacity to describe reality. The grace to give those things names. The skill at discerning essences and giving them a voice, so to speak, through the name we ascribe to them. Therefore, it is not inaccurate to call mankind the Namer.

This means you. You are the Namer.

How does this affect the places we go and the people we interact with? It can affect them profoundly—if we have a mindset that sets us up for such. To describe this mindset, let us depict it as a parable.

Within each person is an AM radio talk show. It is the background sound of conversations, songs, longings, daydreams, and polemics. It is the story we tell ourselves, with its fallen mix of fact and fiction about our own world and the world around us. But what happens to that person when someone calls their name? The talk show recedes for a moment, for someone has summoned them. And in that pause, all things are possible.

This is why, at the most basic level, it is good to remember people’s names. For when you speak to a person by their name, the space of possibility is created for further naming. And since the act of naming is to give voice to reality, we have an opportunity to describe to the person what the background talk show of the soul sometimes blots out: all the good, the true, and the beautiful in who a person is and what a person does. In essence, we remind them of their true name.

I’m talking about encouraging people as you go about your life. From baristas to business associates to busy moms. Anyone, everyone, in simple sentences, often about very simple things. You, the Namer, are naming that which he or she may have forgotten because of that darn AM radio inside which they can’t switch off. You are not flattering a person; you are not practicing verbal sorcery to conjure an illusion. No, you are describing what truly is: the gold within them, deposited by the One who made them.

For each person is a like a river with hidden gold, and those who view them through this lens awaken their courage to reveal it.

© Kurt Mähler