What’s in a name?

Names are so fascinating; especially if you are from Africa. People in Africa rarely name a child for the beauty of the name or for fashion’s sake. Almost every name tells a story. What about my name? Surely Jane is an innocent name! Or so you think! I am supposedly what they call in the Mambwe language of Zambia a ‘Chiwela’ or, simply put, a reincarnation. I was named after Dad’s dead great Aunt. Her name was Jane Chitupa Mukamukwasa Changolo and I inherited all these names. When I am at home, people don’t always call me Jane. They take a pick at any of these names. As I was growing up, I heard people say, ‘It really is her!’, meaning I was really my Dad’s great Aunt. (How ancient!). They said that I talked like her, walked like her, behaved like her, and everything I did seemed so ‘her’. From what I heard, she seemed to have been a lovely woman and I, then, felt privileged to have been an embodiment of this woman’s spirit.

    After I became a Christian, I was advised to renounce all my names saying that they carried some evil connotations. I was told that it was not right for me, as a Christian who did not believe in reincarnation, to keep these names. But I loved my name, reincarnation or not!
‘Lord’, I prayed one day, ‘can’t you take me as I am with my name? You know that I know that I am not a reincarnation. I know that you have a different definition of who I am. Help me discover that definition.’
Through the years, God has redefined my life and given it new meaning. He has given me a definition reserved for me alone.

Jabez, in the Bible, also lived in a society that gave names for their meaning. His name meant pain, because of the pain he had caused his mother at birth. He was destined to cause pain. He realised that he could rise above that definition and allow God to give him a new destiny. He called to God and God did it!

We all define ourselves in some way. Our definition is influenced by our surroundings, our past, our present, our experiences, our aspirations, what people say of us, etc. some, positive and some, negative. From the day we are born (actually, from conception) and throughout our lives, we receive messages from our parents and our surroundings and we learn to define ourselves by these messages. These definitions limit us as individuals. They only give us a subjective view of ourselves, our potential and what real fulfilment in life is. We need to expand our horizons and see beyond just what has been presented to us by our upbringing and society. We can be free to discover our true identity and to enjoy life to the max by embracing God. He has the ways and means of filling our lives with purpose. Don’t let your definition rob you of the joys that life has to offer you. Give God the chance to make sense of your life. Let him define you. After all, he is your Maker!