Let the Light Shine in

               My favorite feature of our new home is our master bath window.  A lovely stained glass pane (formerly in the Tudor-styled Henry the VIII Hotel in St. Louis) fits almost perfectly in the 40”x20” spot.  Each day as I raise the mini-blinds, light comes pouring through the red, blue, green, yellow and clear diamonds of glass.  I savor the simple beauty.

               Around 2000, people could buy a window for $50.00 during the razing of this landmark hotel.  On a cold December day, my husband actually used a screwdriver and wrench to extract one for us.  We put it in a section of a front window then, but at our last house, it just leaned against a wall for 11 years, no light coming through, no beauty to be seen.

               After breakfast, I usually  read several daily devotional books and pray.  With limited physical abilities, I’m not bounding out the door each morning—or any other time of day!  A real need and desire to hear from God motivate me more to keep this practice, especially in times of difficulty and trial.  In the last two weeks, three different devotionals have addressed the importance of making time to hear God’s “still, small voice” as followers of Christ.

               On July 6^th, in Penned from the Heart, the title said, “Straining for the Still, Small Voice,” then quoted 1 Kings 19:12,13 about the Lord not being in the wind, earthquake or fire.  Instead, His direction came to Elijah through a “still, small voice.”  The author’s reasoning?  “Perhaps because a whisper requires participation, a stretching of the ears.”  I would add hearing also requires taking time apart from doing other things however good they may be.

               A new devotional, Prayers for Every Day, quoted this same verse but with a different and catchy wording on July 17^th.  “The Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a sound of sheer silence . . . Then there came a voice to him.”  The words of an old, familiar hymn followed, beginning with “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind forgive our foolish ways . . . Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire, O still small voice of calm."   

               Honestly, on July 20^th, a third devotional, the Upper Room, was titled, “Hear His Voice.”  Jesus’s words followed:  “My sheep hear my voice.  I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).  After a story about the transforming power a leader’s words can bring in a crisis, the author compared that to a believer’s opportunity to hear Christ’s words of wisdom, guidance and calm.  “Listening to Christ’s voice through the Spirit or the words of scripture” should be a vital and regular part of our Christian life.

               God is still “speaking” and the written, inspired words of God are readily available for instruction, correction and counsel.  Will we let God’s words, quietly spoken to our hearts or written in the scriptures be like the lovely window laying against a wall?  Or, will we set apart time to allow the light of the Holy Spirit to shine and enliven these words our living Lord means for us, while still, to truly “hear.”

Time for a "new" name!

               At the ripe old age of 66, why would I change being called by my middle name, Kay, to my first name, Rayma.  Why, indeed.

Opportunity:  I have moved to a new town—and a new state—after a lifetime in St. Louis being known as Kay Laughlin.  My younger brother, wanting relief from the middle name hassle and an abundance of Michaels, went to Glen, his first name, when my parents moved to a new area in St. Louis.  My daughter also made a change in her name when she moved.

New familiarity:  I have seen a lot of doctors in the last few years, and I grew tired of telling them to call me by my middle name.  Hearing and responding to “Rayma” has become more familiar.

Meaning:  Although spelled differently, my name is pronounced the same as the Greek word “rhema,” meaning utterance.  Rhema appears in the scriptures as the spoken word of God.  In Mathew 4:4, Jesus tells the devil that “. . . Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes forth out of the mouth of God.”  Rhema is the word God speaks to our spirits and minds in a personal and powerful way, often a piece of scripture.   Another Greek term used for the word of God is logos, the inspired word of God found in the Bible, including Jesus, “the word made flesh” (John 1:1).  Logos is the written word of God, “living and active” which “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:4,5).

History:  According to Owens family lore, my father painted “Rayma” on the back of the chest to be used for the baby my parents were expecting.  However, that was a boy who became William Howard Owens, Jr.  When I came along in second place, I was given the wonderful name Rayma Kay, but my parents, who loved the name, called me “Kay.”  My mother’s sister was named Rayma, blending my grandmother’s maiden name, “Ray”, with “Ma,” a name for another family member.  My aunt would be the only person I knew who had the name until I went to college.

In grade school when kids would find out my first name, I was teased.  “Sheena of the Jungle” was a popular television program, so some called me Raymar of the Jungle.  That gave me no love for the name—who wants to be teased?  Every year I would have to explain that I use my middle name, and that was a hassle.  By the time I got married, I only had “Kay” written on the formal invitation, a decision a more mature Kay came to regret.

Seizing the day:  In Romans 10:10, the word declares “that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”  I have been storing up the written and spoken words of God for some years now, many handwritten on my heart, such as Jeremiah 29:11 about God’s plans being for good and not for evil.  A name that sounds like a Greek word for the spoken word of God—I’ll take that, for it is in those words of God that my hopes for much good rest.  As the old hymn says, “Standing on the promises of God, my Savior.”