Our names are important to us, but exactly how important are they? Is it our names themselves that are important, or is the person that stands behind them most important?
There have been numerous studies that would suggest that what name your given at birth will determine how you will live your life. Some names will increase an individuals likelihood of success in the workplace. Certain names tend to drift towards certain types of occupations. While other names can affect whether or not someone will develop a mental illness later in life. The process of naming a child, for some parents, has become so crucial that they hire a baby naming consultant to assist them with finding the best fitting name.
While studies can suggest what they would like, from what I have experienced it is the person who represents that name that is most important. This week at work I have been reminded of this numerous times. I encountered some individuals this week who seemed to believe that they did not have worth. Each of them had been assisted in believing this through what the society surrounding them had to say about them.
Early in the week I was attempting to assist a couple with relocating their campsite. This was needing to be done due to a conflict that had occurred with another member of their camp. While discussing a possible location near one of Chattanooga’s prestigious private schools, they stated: “We can’t move over there. The people of that school would not want dirty vagrants like us living near there.”
Tuesday we found a gentleman, laying under a bridge, that we had not seen in a month. We found him laying in a trash pile under an overpass during our last visit with him. We were told that he had been there for almost three days drinking himself to death. As we lifted him out from under the overpass he kept saying: “Why are you all doing this. Why do you care about a drunk like me. I don’t deserve for you all to help me.” During our visit on Tuesday he would not turn to look or talk to us until we said his name. After hearing his name he then sat up and asked how we knew what his name was? We then had to inform him that we were there on that day a month ago, and assisted him with getting to the hospital. He then began to explain that he was a diesel mechanic for 35 years, and about 10 years ago he lost both of his parents in a house fire. After experiencing this tragedy he then turned to alcohol, which then led to him loosing everything else that he had.
Later in the week we encountered one of our clients who we believe is likely a meth dealer. This client has developed a reputation within the homeless community as someone who is not to be approached or messed with. He has put a lot of effort and work into making sure others fear him, and keep their distance away from him. Somehow, for reasons unknown to us, he views myself and the outreach team differently. This week he stated: “You guys are always welcome in my camp. You all are like family. There is a different energy around you. I know that you guys are here to give, and not to take from me.” We are the only ones on the streets that know his legal name. Everyone else only knows him by his street name. He continued by saying: “People who know me say that I am a beast. That I am a monster. They don’t treat me like a human being. Part of me is ok with that, but it also bothers me at the same time. I know that I am going to hell with gasoline britches on.”
These are such a strong statements on how these individuals view their worth. They feel as though they are not worthy to be in the same geographical proximity of those associated with a different social economic status. They seem to think that they are irredeemable. They have no hope for themselves, because their humanity has been stripped from them. These beliefs about them have altered what they believe is their identity.
Each of these encounters led us to having conversations where we got the opportunity to say: “We know what they have said or thought about you, but your identity goes beyond that. It goes beyond what your nickname is. Your identity transcends beyond what name was given to you by your mom and dad, by your friends, by your ex, by your enemies. You are more than that, and you are worth more than that!” I try my hardest to remember every clients name after meeting them for the first time. It is my goal to be able to call them by their name the next time I meet them. When this happens it does wonders for the relationship I am building with that client. By me remembering their name it helps the client realize that I do see them as a human being, and that I have a desire to know and remember who they are.
After leaving the conversation with the third individual I could not stop thinking about why he would give me his legal name when he refused to give that to anyone else. I believe it is because I:
Try to give and not to take.
Attempt to redeem what has been lost
Even though the losses are great.
Also, my name
My name holds its own weight.
It brings with it something they appreciate.
Love, Respect, and Dignity
Things we all deserve
Now into infinity.
The integrity of my name is something that I am constantly focusing on while at work. It remains a focus because the people that I work with have been lied to far to often. The way I try to uphold the integrity of my name is a three step process:
1)Discover - Each client is told my name with every encounter.
2)Develop - With each encounter I deliver a message of wanting to help connect a client with what they need.
3)Deliver - When a need is expressed I do my best to deliver a connection to meet that need.
This process was proven to have a lasting impact during an encounter on Monday. We approached a client while they were sleeping under a bridge. As we got closer the client awoke and said: “Go away! Get out of here!” I then said the client’s name and stated: “It’s Joe Brackett from Homeless Healthcare.” The client then said: “Oh hey, sorry I thought it was a stranger.” Now I have only spoken to this client three times, and I have not seen this client in over a year. The last time I did I was able to get him to Homeless Healthcare to get some medicine that he needed. By most of our standards I would probably still be classified as a stranger. Thanks to the upheld integrity of my name I am no longer held as a stranger in this particular client’s mind.
Another reason why the integrity of my name is such a priority for me is because I am trying my hardest to uphold a higher name. The name of my redeemer.
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” - Galatians 2:20
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” - Isaiah 43:1
God knows I am by no means perfect at lifting the name of Christ above my own at all times. I am a work in progress. A lump of clay in the hand of the potter with Christ as my rock foundation. He is forming me into His masterpiece.
“You pulled me from the clay
You set me on a rock
Called me by Your Name
And made my heart whole again”
-Hillsong UNITED
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
- Ephesians 2:10
So the question for those that have decided to read this far, what is in your name? What does your name mean to others that hear it? Do you know that your identity is not found in what others name you to be? In order to be a masterpiece we must be unique. There is no one else like you. As God’s creation you have an intrinsic value, and we each have varied gifts to share with one another.
“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” -1 Peter 4:10
As Christ reveals himself to you. He will reveal more of who He is forming you to be. So that you can bring revelation in the life of others. But we must remember that revelation comes through relationship, and relationships start with learning a name.
Comments
Post a Comment