What is your Name?

I have lived a few decades now and have seen, experienced, learned, etc. a few things. I believe the old saying is.. “live long enough or just keep on living”… I am sure several people could add their own ending to these phrases. I would like to share with you that if you keep on living, you will discover who men/women say that you are without you ever having to define yourself with your own words.

I love sitting at the feet of my elders gleaming from their wisdom. Often times I hear the words… it is not what you say, but how you say it; actions speak louder than words, your name goes before your presence, or you are what you think. I am far from perfect; however I am always seeking within to determine how I can improve with the help of the Ruach.

It wasn’t until after I received my first job after obtaining my Bachelors degree that I started to live the words of my elders. It was then that the adult tests of life started. Due to my confession of being a believer, my character was being put to the test more often than I had ever experienced in my life at such a young age. I believe it was because I genuinely started to care about how I made Yahweh look in every area of my life.

I wasn’t much of a talker unless I was given the approval to be conversational beyond being friendly. So needless to say, I was a woman of few words. There was a chosen elect people handpicked by Yahweh that I talked to on a daily basis. Others I smiled at, spoke to, nodded my head to, emailed, asked only work related questions with, etc.

There was this lady I saw whenever I went to the cafeteria, whether it was in the morning for breakfast or in the afternoon for lunch that caught me off guard one day. As I was paying for my food, she said hey “smiles”. She said I do not know your name but one thing I can look forward to is your smile every time you grace the cafeteria. She said it didn’t matter if it was in the morning or the afternoon; whenever you came to my line I was guaranteed to see you smile. I actually looked forward to that every time I saw you. I was at a loss for words initially. The only thing I could say was thank you. Of course I went back to my desk and just thought to myself, wow you never know how you impact people by just being yourself. Needless to say I am still hearing this name now.

A few years later, I was given the opportunity to receive a new position. I greeted everyone with a smile on my first day. Of course I sat with many people for on the job training. No matter who I sat with I always treated them with kindness. It was one day I walked in and two coworkers were talking and one of them said, isn’t she like a breath of fresh air and the other one said I know. I said wow. Once again all I could say was Wow, thank you so much. In my alone time, I said all glory unto you God!

As time went on I kept hearing the words hey sunshine, morning sunshine, how are you doing sunshine, and goodnight sunshine. It was then I begin to dig deep into the scriptures about being the light of the world and what that truly means. All I could do was give all glory and honor to God for what He was doing in my life. I began to notice that as time went on there were a few people I started calling sunshine. It was natural to say it and type it. It was the only word that would come to me to describe them.

When you decide to follow Christ and obey the scriptures, names tend to follow you and one day they will go before you. Never claim to be perfect, but be perfected in Christ.

Who do men say that you are? What words do they use to describe you?