Your Name: A Pearl of Great Price

I swear I did not put him up to it. It’s just my husband’s natural curiosity that leads him to ask random questions of complete strangers. Though in this case, she was our waitress, and she did tell us her name, and it was an unusual name, so it actually made perfect sense to me that he would ask her what it meant, though I think my daughter might have had a brief, “Oh, Dad” moment.

Perla? he asked. What does your name mean? She flashed a beautiful smile and shrugged.
“I’m not really sure — my parents are hispanic, and I guess they thought it was a pretty name.”

It troubled me slightly. I’m so much in the habit of making meaning and searching for stories that I’ve been told more than once, “You’re overthinking this.”

But it also came two days before five women and I will meet to search for stories, beginning with an exploration of our names.

Names are significant, says Scripture. In Genesis 1, God creates and he names:
“God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night” (Gen. 1:5a).

In Isaiah 43, Isaiah delivers God’s promise to care for his people even in the painful exile they have brought on themselves with these words,
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

And one day, Revelation tells us, God will gives us our new name, the unknown but intensely personal name we await.

So of course I wondered about Perla. No hint of accent on her tongue. No interest in her hispanic name. Would knowing more of the story of her ancestry only bring pain? Was it a story her parents did not want to tell? If so, why did they give her that name?

Did she not even know that it means “pearl,” as in “pearl of great price”? (Or could it be related to that heart-wrenching short story by Steinbeck, the one where the family loses what is most precious for a pearl of no worth?) (Now you see why people think I overthink things:-).

I hope Perla asks her parents about her name now. What about you?
Do you know your name? Do you know what part of your story it tells?
Do you know that God names you as his redeemed, precious possession?
How do you feel about being named by God?

If you are interested in investing six weeks in learning more about your name, story, and calling, please contact me. I am offering both group and individual coaching around this topic.