#FiveMinuteFriday! Word prompt is Woman. Join me for What’s in a name?!
Names are intriguing at times. Just take mine, for instance. No, really, take it! Yvonne is my first name but my parents have always called me by my middle name, Nannette, which I prefer. Yvonne was my grandmother’s name, it’s always an honor to be named after someone and I adored my grandmother.
Then there is the origin behind Nannette. Obviously, both names have French roots and even sound better if the French are doing the pronouncing. You might think my parents had some rich friends from Paris that visited often and the wife’s name was Nannette Eloise Babineaux (BAB-in-oh). Elegant. Classy. Cosmopolitan!
But no, my parents didn’t have French friends, had never been to France and didn’t take French in high school. They did have a friend though that influenced my name and that friend had a dog. A french poodle, to be exact. And the French poodle had a name.
Yep.
Nannette.
So, with all confidence when someone asks, “Who were you named after?” or “Nannette is such a pretty name, is it in your family?” Ugh.
I was named after a dog, people, a dog.
Names matter. Names are remembered. Names have lifelong consequences or blessings! The Book of Acts only briefly mentions a woman with an unusual name that we do not hear much of today.
In the 17th chapter of Acts, the Apostle Paul is preaching on Mars Hill and addressing The UNKNOWN GOD that the people of Athens had inscribed on an altar. It is said that about 600 years before Paul preached in Athens that a devastating plague tore through the city. A man named Epimenides thought he could please the gods by sacrifice so he let loose a flock of sheep through the town and wherever they lay down that was where they sacrificed that particular sheep: to the god that had the nearest shrine. If it didn’t lay down near a shrine or temple then they sacrificed it To the Unknown God. But Paul let them know, “The God who created the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, because it is He who gives to all life and breath and all things.”
What comes next gives a woman a place in Biblical history and leaves us to forever wonder about her life, her relationship with God, her faith and her conversion.
“So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.” Acts 17:33-34 ESV. (Emphasis mine.)
A woman named Damaris? She is mentioned by name this one time in the Bible and we are given no other information about her except that she joined Paul and she believed.
The Greek meaning of the name Damaris refers to a calf or heifer. Probably not going to mention this to my expectant daughter-in-law as a name choice for our little one on the way!
But the Latin name means gentle and after reading the account of Paul’s sermon, understanding the background of the people in Athens and their infatuation with The Unknown God, I thought that maybe, just maybe, this woman named Damaris was given her name for a purpose, even if it wasn’t revealed to her parents at the time. Quite unlike me and my French poodle.
Her spirit was gentle and yet perhaps it was strong-willed, meaning when she was convinced of something she wasn’t about to let go. “But some men joined him and believed…and a woman named Damaris…” For a woman to be mentioned in scripture in this fashion was a big deal and says to me that she was singled out for a reason. She was wooed by the Savior, by the scripture, not only for her personal salvation but for her influence. Damaris was likely well known and perhaps looked up to in the community and when she joined Paul, when she believed in Jesus Christ, this gentle woman plowed through the rest of her life letting others know about the One who gave His life for everyone. She wasn’t intimidated by those that did NOT believe,
Can the same be said of us today? When we walk by do others get a sense of peace because we shine the Light of Christ or do they whisper about that woman who does nothing but cause division?
A woman named ___________________________. Insert your name here and determine from this day forward to be like Damaris. Even though we know so little…okay…. we know nothing about her; we are looking at that name and surmising that she was strong as a bull but yet gentle like a dove. A perfect combination for a soul winner. Be that woman!
(You might also like my humorous post about my alter ego. Read it here!)