Two Saturdays ago, my team threw on our chunni’s (the dreaded long scarves that are a part of our wardrobes this month, despite 93 degree weather) and headed to a slum for the first time. It was nearly dark when we got there, and I couldn’t see a ton… the smells were pretty hard to miss though.
We were greeted by lots of little Indian kids, who escorted us into their neighborhood, a literal dump. As the community heard us arriving they came out to meet us, we shook hands and doled out awkward hugs and attempted many name exchanges. We played hand-clapping games and held babies and looked into the eyes of women who had lived hard lives.
After we had been there a while, a woman handed her baby over to me and started conversing with me in Telugu. I of course, had no idea what she was saying so I waited for Brother Prem to translate. He explained to me that the baby was 2 months old, which was pretty surprising considering how tiny and light she was, and that she did not yet have a name. How you can have a baby for two months and not name it, I’m still a little uncertain of. Then the woman asked me to name her sweet little girl. I sat there for a second like… uh, I haven’t even had any practice with this, and when I was little I named everything nameable in my possession Lisa (not sure if it was because of Lisa Frank school supplies or Lisa Turtle on Saved By The Bell), and this is a pretty big deal, and this lady doesn’t even know me! I quickly asked The Lord to give me something, and the name that stuck out to me was Esther.
In the Bible, Esther is a patient, beautiful, kind, courageous, strong, respectful, Jewish woman, who becomes a Queen and saves a lot of Jews. Her qualities have always made her one of my favorite women in the Bible, and if I could choose for a little girl to grow up and be like someone I would choose her. So, Esther it was. Her mom and dad approved and they grabbed baby Esther back and returned to their dwelling.
I felt pretty privileged to have gotten to name someone’s kid, and just couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that they gave a stranger the responsibility of choosing what their daughter would be called for the rest of her life! When I got home, I read and enjoyed the book of Esther again. I read it out of my study Bible, and learned while reading that Esther means star. Aah, so cool God. So my prayer for Esther is that she will grow up to be star.
We use stars to mark something as important or with excellence. We lay outside, gazing at the outstretched heavens laden with stars, awed by The Creator. No matter how many we’ve seen, the remarkability of shooting stars never ceases to excite us. Stars are luminous, fiery, bright, shining, bodies. By one star, our whole world is illuminated! So, my prayer is for Esther to grow to be a star; a bright shining, remarkable thing of beauty that illuminates the lives of those around her, and that by seeing and knowing her, others will be awed by The Creator.
