What my Daughter's Middle Name Means

Moira Grace Nealon was born on January 22 at 8:02 pm. She has immediately changed my life...I quipped two days after she was born that her birth marked the death of my cynicism. Thankfully, this has continued to be true.

This post is about her middle name, "Grace". Like most parents, I hope that her name will mean something. In the Bible, often names prove to be descriptive. Jacob was born clutching Esau's heel, so he his name means "heel" (is there any wonder that he needed to be renamed by God?). Donan and I long that Grace will be more than a pretty middle name that rolls off the tongue. We hope that it will describe God's hand in her life.

Quick background, I have spent much of the past year exploring the idea of grace. While I have been a Christian for 12 years now, I felt like my understanding of grace was very limited. I was a Christian to make the world better, but was lacking in understanding in just what force God was using to change our world.

I believe that Grace is the most powerful force in the Universe. I believe Grace is the essence of God's plan for the restoration of everything that has ever been made. I believe that Grace gives weight and importance to every action that occurs on our planet. I believe that Grace is evidence of the existence of sin and the offer of real forgiveness. I believe that Grace can accomplish more than war ever can. I believe that Grace erodes what fear establishes. I believe that Grace undermines every scheme to enslave humanity in bitterness. I believe that without Grace, there is no such thing as hope.

I believe that Grace is done a disservice when it is applied to dance routines and beauty pageants. While my daughter is a beautiful girl, I do not believe that Grace is inherently feminine.

I believe that Grace is misunderstood. Too often we treat Grace like it is a tool that we can wield, choosing who to give it to and to hold it back from. In reality, Grace is a force that we either can resist or embrace. To embrace it, is to get lost it. Grace defines us, we never get to define Grace.

Grace is evidence that our lives matter to God. Our sins and failures mean so much that they need to be atoned. OUr inherent value to God is so high that He is willing to die to restore us. Grace doesn't mean that in the end nothing matters, it actually proves that everything matters.

I hope and I pray that my daughter will allow herself to be embraced by Grace. I want Grace to protect her from a merit-based view of the world. I long for her to never know the sting of unforgiveness or to be poisoned from the inside-out by a grudge. I hope that Grace enables her to treat every person with value and to know that her value is entirely derived by how God sees her.

From the time that Donan found out she was pregnant, in the womb I would tell Moira that she could not earn my love. Good grades and perfect behavior would never secure my love. In contrast, rebellion and sin would never cost her my love. I pledged to her that I would strive, to the best of my feeble ability, to demonstrate the Grace of her perfect Father.

So that is what Moira's middle name means. Her name is hope. I tell her that her middle name is the most powerful force in the universe...and I mean it. All I can do is pray that she will be defined not by the "un-grace" of the world, but the eternal wave of Grace unleashed by Jesus.