Motherhood and Name Calling + The Mother Who Named Her Child Sorrow

I have always been fascinated with the story of Jabez in the bible. I often wondered why a mother would name her child Jabez which means “sorrow maker”.

I can also imagine how Jabez must have felt through his growing years with a name like that.

His mother called him Jabez because she bore him in pain. She projected her pain and sorrow into her child’s life. He was her reminder of the pain and struggles she had been through.

Her intentions may have been pure but the consequences of that single action had the power to destroy her child’s destiny.

Today, our intentions and actions as mothers can sometimes also positively or negatively alter the course of our child/children’s destiny.

Imagine calling a child sorrow maker every single day of his life.

Imagine calling a child stupid every day.

Imagine telling a child that he is useless and will never amount to anything.

Imagine telling a child that she is dumb every other day.

Imagine how those words can easily become that child’s reality.

Dear Mother,

What kind of names are you calling your children?

What regrets, mistakes or pain from your life are you projecting into the lives of your children?

We must learn to look beyond life’s difficulties and challenges and choose to call our children those names we want them to become.

We must also take charge of our emotions and let the words we speak to and over our children be life giving words that will grow to bear good fruits.

Our words are seeds and as we speak, we are either planting good or bad seeds.

Choose to speak only life over your children.

Will you?