When I was younger, I hated my name. I could never find it
on gift shop key-chains, and I felt like it made me stick out like a sore
thumb. I was too unique. I wanted to be like the Rachels and Katies in my
class. I wanted someone to share a name with. As I’ve gotten older and
experienced life a bit more, I’ve come to realize how silly the idea of hating
my name is. I’ve started to think about what my name really means, and what
that means for me.
The dictionary definition of the word hope is “a feeling of
expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” In Old English, hope
meant “confidence in the future.” For a long time, I’ve pondered what my name
means to me, and I’m glad to finally
be able to sit down and share it with people.
Because my name is also a word with a very powerful meaning,
I feel like I have to carry the weight of its meaning. I feel like I have to be
hopeful and optimistic and confident that good things will happen. But this isn’t
always easy. To put it plainly, life sucks. Life kicks you down, and it’s not
always easy to get back up again. However, as Hope, I feel like it is my
responsibility to not only pick myself up, but to help others get back up as
well.
That being said, I feel like I have quite the burden to
carry. Now, you might be saying, a name is just a name; it doesn’t carry any
physical weight to it. I read a blog once that said that “Names are more than a
convenience allowing us to talk to each other. Names are a gift from God. They
contain His power. They define things. They define us.” Names are representations
and reflections of who we are. Without names, we would all be the same. In the
Bible, Proverbs 22:1 says “A good name is more desirable than great riches.”
The name Hope is more than just a name to me. It’s a
physical representation of who I am and what I stand for. While sometimes it
may feel a bit overbearing to have a name with so much density to it, it also
gives me a guide for how to live my life and how to present myself to the
world. My name may be unique and a burden to carry, but I like to think of it
more as a blessing in disguise, sent by God to push me in the right direction,
the direction of hope.
Sources
Dictionary definition: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=definition+of+hope
