The Value of a Name

Last night I conducted a worship service at the Tennessee Prison for Women. I do this at least once or twice a month. It has become a highlight of my life. Those women bless me far more than I feel I give back to them. I learn a lot from the women in prison. One of the lessons I have learned recently is the importance of remembering their names. One young woman has a toddler who is being cared for by a loving couple while she completes her incarceration. I went up to this mother and called her by name and asked after her little boy. She looked at me with tears in her eyes and shock on her face. She put her hands on my arms and said "You remembered my NAME!" To see the astonishment in her face spoke volumes to me. To be remembered by name is a wonderful gift. That same evening another woman was crying and I went over to her and gave her a tissue and called her by name as I told her I had been praying for her. She smiled and thanked me. About a week later I got a letter from her telling me how blessed she was by my remembering her name when I had only met her once before...and that she would make a point to come to more of the worship services. Last night I had girls tell me repeatedly how impressed they were that I would remember their names. Such a small thing yet monumental to these women who have such horrible stories to tell of abuse, neglect, poverty and crime. It makes me weep to think how often just a simple gesture of kindness can make such a huge impact on the world. When I related to Dan how my evening went and the impact of this small gesture he gave me an old book off his shelves. I rolled my eyes (I'm good at that!) because I am reading about FOUR books right now and don't have time to read another thing! But he encouraged me to read just six short pages and I did so this morning. The book is Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. The section I read was on the importance of remembering and HONORING a person's name. Carnegie said "Most people don't remember names for the simple reason that they don't take the time and energy necessary to concentrate and repeat and fix names indelibly in their minds. They make excuses for themselves; they are too busy." Reading those few pages made me even more determined to implement this key rule of Mr. Carnegie's success principles: Remember that a man's name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language.