Prov 17:22

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine... - Proverbs 17:22

Sunday, December 2, 2018

The Fine Art of Name-Calling


Although I’ve always been called “Terrie,” for the first two decades of my life I believed my real name was Theresa, after my great-grandmother. Mom explained that “Terrie” was a nickname and registered me as Theresa at school. The other kids would snicker whenever an unsuspecting substitute teacher called out “Theresa” in roll call.

At thirteen, I decided it might be cool to spell my name Teri. It caught on, and I remained Teri all through high school. That’s what you’ll see on my high school diploma and our wedding invitation.

Then, because I was moving out of the country, I applied for my birth certificate. Lo and behold, I discovered I’d been legally registered at birth as Terrie. I had never actually been Theresa at all. We teased Mom that she must have been looped on painkillers when she filled out the form.

So I became Terrie once again, and I’ve stuck with that for forty years, although others have spelled it Teri, Terie, Terry, and Terri. One becomes used to all the variations when one has a name like mine. I try not to let it cause an identity crisis.

Recently, though, I created a Service Canada account online. If you’ve done that, you know you must first request a special unique code. When my code arrived in the mail, my name was spelled Teri. Even my middle name, Janette, was misspelled. Would this discrepancy cause problems down the road? I didn’t want to risk it.

So, down to the Service Canada office I went. I took along my passport showing the correct spelling of my name. I should have realized they’d want my birth certificate and marriage certificate. So, back home I drove for the key to our security box. When I arrived at the Credit Union, friendly Holly led me into the room with all the lock boxes and pulled ours out. I went through everything. No birth or marriage certificates materialized, except for hubby’s. I returned home, where I found mine in a filing cabinet, and circled back to Service Canada.

They entered everything correctly and assured me it was all good.

Several days later when I again logged into my account, my name still came up wrong. Back to Service Canada I went, torn between annoyance at the inconvenience and gratitude for a local office. The lady who helped me before couldn’t solve the issue and sent me back to the waiting room. When my name was called again, the second lady went into her computer and assured me my name had been entered correctly and advised me to move forward with my business regardless of how the login name showed up.

Last week, I received the letter I’d been awaiting—still with the wrong spelling of my name. I returned to our Service Canada office. The lady seemed puzzled, but assured me it must be just a glitch and suggested I call the toll-free number and keep toggling between “Press One” and “Press Two” until I reach a human.

All of which left me wondering who named Service Canada.
Worship leader Tommy Walker wrote a song that says, “He knows my name; He knows my every thought; He sees each tear that falls; And He hears me when I call.”

King David said of God, “You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you; The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.” (Psalm 139)

I don’t need to worry about what I was or wasn’t named, or how it is or isn’t spelled. I’m a child of God and he knows my name. He knows yours, too. He is for you. You are who he says you are, and ultimately, that is more than enough.

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