Stephen and Kathy's Daughter. Sydni, Scott, and Kelley's sister.
Kay-Raw. Kace. Kacy-jae-cee.
Miss Lady. Red Chip. Cake-y.
Names.
Names are important to us.
They are specific to each person, typically stay with us for a period of time, and give us an identity. It is how we come to recognize ourselves.
It makes us feel good when those with whom we come in contact remember our names and call us by name.
My young women's leader once told us that our name is our integrity.
What do people think about when they hear our name?
Do they think good things, or negative things?
Or perhaps more importantly, what do we think when we hear our own name?
Elder Dallin H. Oaks once said this in an interview,
"There are also people who consider the defining fact of their existence that they are from Texas or that they were in the United States Marines. Or they are red-headed, or they are the best basketball player that ever played for such-and-such a high school. People can adopt a characteristic as the defining example of their existence and often those characteristics are physical.
We have the agency to choose which characteristics will define us; those choices are not thrust upon us.
The ultimate defining fact for all of us is that we are children of Heavenly Parents, born on this earth for a purpose, and born with a divine destiny. Whenever any of those other notions, whatever they may be, gets in the way of that ultimate defining fact, then it is destructive and it leads us down the wrong path."
So why this tangent on names?
And what realization did I make? Well I'm getting there.
I flipped open to Mosiah chapter 5 today for my scripture study and this is what I read:
"And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives. And it shall come to pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for he shall know the name by which he is called; for he shall be called by the name of Christ." (Mosiah 5:8-9)This is what got me thinking about names, their implications, and how important they are.
Shouldn't the most important defining characteristic by which we are known be that of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That IS what we covenant to do every time we partake of the sacrament. He is the Light, the Life, and the Way.
As Elder Oaks said, we often get so wrapped up in the "I am a theater kid." "I am a jock." "I am a ballerina."
Yet as I make this list, I cannot help but be reminded of another name by which the Savior is known.
Is it not the Savior who is known as the great I AM?
And we are to take upon us His name.
Let being His disciple and being a child of God be our defining quality. Let us serve Him and always strive to live worthy of His name and become comfortable with being called by His name.
"...that ye hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called, and also, the name by which ye shall be called, and also, the name by which he shall call you. For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" (Mosiah 5:12-13)What does our Savior and our Father in Heaven think when they hear our name?
I certainly hope that they look on us and see our greatest potentials. I envision they are probably sitting there cheering for us and hoping that we will live up to our capabilities and gifts.
I also hope that I am honoring their names.
I hope I am doing with their name what they would want me to be doing.
I hope I am living worthy enough and close enough to His spirit that I will recognize when He calls me.
I hope we ALL are.
May we come to know the Savior enough and strive to live in such a way that those who know us will want to know Him more by the way we choose to live.
I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he did indeed die for us. I know that He lives. I know that the atonement is real. It empowers, it strengthens, and it eases our pains. And I know that it is through Him that we can live again and return home to our Father in Heaven. We do not have to do this alone.
The Lord is here.
He is waiting.
We cannot make it back without Him.
Turn to Him.
This is my testimony, and I close this message in His name,the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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