In Case You Missed It - Tell A Story

Through the years I’ve had the opportunity to work with teens as a youth minister. One exercise I’ve done over and over again is a name sharing. The rules are simple. You share your full name, first, middle and last. You tell about the origin of your name, how it was selected, any nicknames you’ve acquired over the years, and any other history behind the name you’d like to share. Finally, you tell the group the name you’d prefer to be called. This innocuous little activity is consistently one of the most powerful exercises I’ve ever witnessed. Sharing that much about your name opens the door to tell stories about family, origins, self-perception and more, stories that aren’t always easy to tell. It’s so intimidating for some that they can barely share anything in the circle. There have been some who say almost nothing except their name itself and some who’ve passed altogether rather than touch the pain associated with their names. The most amazing thing to me isn’t when someone can’t share because of the pain but when someone tells me they don’t know anything about their name. It’s happened almost every time I’ve done this over the years. One or more of those in the circle shrug and say “I don’t know where my name came from.” How sad is that? We need to tell our children the stories of their names. You, as father, should be telling your children where their names came from, why you picked it special just for them, the history of your family name, warts and all. We all need to know about the name that defines us and where it’s rooted. That’s part of what you must be doing as father.