What's in a Name? It Makes Things Worse...Right?

  My hackles were slightly raised, as yet another person referred to my jellybean as a girl but this time it went further. Sure his name could be for a girl and, yes, he does have beautiful eyelashes but he is dressed like a boy. True, his button-down shirt is plaid with pink in it but it is still boyish. These experiences are so common that I normally just let it pass but when a person continues on and on and gets in his face telling him "what a beautiful girl" he is, it is wearisome so I gently corrected her. She was defensive about it and accusingly said, "Well, his shirt has pink in it." Ah, not a battle with eternal value but why did she get so upset when I called it like it was????

 At our appointment that day, the neurologist gave me some encouraging news. Jellybean is not completely missing his right cerebellum as I was previously told. He is just missing a small part of the right side and otherwise, his brain looks good. Then he said more. Just one more thing. "There's not much more I can do but you need to be followed by the Cerebral Palsy clinic from now on." The words hit my ears and sunk in like a lead pellet, a slow, heavy sinking into my mind. Of course, I should not be surprised. Cerebral Palsy is common in premature babies, especially ones with brain trauma. Why did it seem worse now with a name? 

 Think of it in terms of sin. Don't we like to cover sin  up by disguising it and hiding its name. A lie is just merely kidding around or joking. Lust is just doing what makes us happy or satisfying our appetite. Pride is strong-willed or confidence. It is easier to swallow and keep repeating if does not sound like sin. 

  The truth is that giving sin a nickname does not change the fact that it is an offense to holy God.  One day we shall stand face to face with the Lord of all and there will be no way to diminish what is really there. 

  Knowing what you are dealing with does not actually make it worse; it just opens the door to more specific prayer, more resources, more ways others can come alongside you, more awareness of what God will see you through.  God sees the sin in its ugly reality and its ugly effects and He still was willing to offer the ultimate sacrifice to redeem us. So call it what it is, face things as they really are, then live to glorify God. 

 Recently, I revisited a wonderful blog I follow and found verses from Ezekiel that I think speak more than adequately to this topic:
Ezekiel 16:2-8   “Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: “Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born.And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’  I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare. When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord GOD.