Remembering With GodSample

Remembering That We Are Named Well

So many of us live with stories in which we have been anything but blessed by those around us. We have been taken—we’ve been called husband, wife, son, daughter, friend—but we have not felt the soft beauty of blessing at those tables. 

What is fascinating about this concept of blessing is how quickly we adopt names based on our experiences, memories, stories, and scripts: Failure names us. Abuse names us. A sexual reputation names us. We name ourselves, and we take on the names others give us. 

The best way to examine this is to meditate on the ideas that protest our attempting something new. A voice often comes up that says, “You can’t do that. You’re a failure. You’re too anxious, too young, too everything opposite of what you need to be for this. You are not enough.” 

Henri Nouwen indicates that this is precisely why our memories need to be blessed. He observes, “I am increasingly aware of how much we fearful, anxious, insecure human beings are in need of a blessing.” Only blessing allows us to continue the journey through our memories knowing that regardless of how our past may describe us, it is our chosenness and our blessedness that defines us.

Think on a moment in your memory where those who SHOULD have blessed you ended up offering a curse instead. What names do you carry and live by today that are a direct result of a lack of blessing? Ask God where his grace is leading you to see that “curse” turn to blessing—to see it redeemed. 

From As I Recall by Casey Tygrett