Whatsyourname?
Recently a friend of mine was telling me that he had attended a school re-union the previous week. He had discovered a web site that had the details and as the venue was not too far away he had gone along, not really knowing what to expect.
He was buzzing with enthusiasm, explaining how much fun it had been to meet up with people he hadn’t seen for over forty years. With great gusto he recounted how much everyone had changed, “In fact” he said, “ it’s a good thing we all had name tags, or we might not have known each other!”
Later I meditated that the passing of time does have a way of doing that. Only a month earlier, walking down the Parade, I had been greeted by name and with great familiarity by someone I didn’t recognise at all. What an embarrassment that had been!
This led me to reflect that it’s good for us to know that there’s someone who will always know us, even without name tags, no matter how life or aging may have changed our appearances.
We are told, in Jeremiah 1:5, that our wonderful heavenly Father has known us since “way back”. He always recognizes us and He is filled with delight every time He looks at us.
Only a few pages earlier in the Bible, in Isaiah 49: 15-16, the same theme is expressed in wonderful picture language: “I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands”. That’s good news!