Blooming Night Flower
A pastor’s wife met us during our border journey, on the way to a refugee camp inside Burma. Her family set out two boxes of ice cream on long tables in the shade, along with fresh watermelon, soft drinks, and water. Then S asked her for her name.
“I was born at night,” she told us through translation. “My name means Night Blooming Flower.”
We met and heard about others with similar, descriptive names: “Sweet Sweet” and “Get the Job Done.” I like how these names are so tailored to individuals. They’re unique … and, in a way, they help define the starting point for who people are and where they’re going.
The name Night Blooming Flower is much more than a story of a woman’s birth, of course. She and her husband patiently pastor a church in a small village. The chapel features a full-wall, hand-drawn copy of da Vinci’s The Last Supper. It was painted by their son, Poda.
To us, this family has moved BEYOND their names, beyond their beginning … to living out a Call to be in that place … offering whatever it is that they have to neighbors and strangers. It’s simple … yet something deeply powerful.
And it’s very similar to what happened in the pictures at the beginning and end of this post.
S was asked to teach young teachers some fundamentals about how to teach. She didn’t have a lesson plan, she didn’t have much time to prepare. So, late at night, she taught her impromptu students how to tie knots with string … using the lesson to show these young teachers the value of showing, helping, encouraging, joining, and watching.
She lived out a Call to be in that place, offering whatever it was that she had.
Simple, yet something deeply powerful.
So interesting and descriptive. Have set the picture of Night Blooming Flower and Susan as my computer’s wallpaper. Would love to see a close up of the wall picture of DaVinci last supper.
Mom, I told her about Mrs. Vick’s night-blooming cirrus!
thank you for this post, J. Makes me think of Elizabeth’s Chinese name, Shen Shi, given to her at the orphanage after she was found on the doorstep. It means “Lovely Like a Poem”. I always marvel at how descriptive these names are — especially given as they are when a child is just hours old. I like what you say about how they define a person’s beginning and where they are going, but ultimately are transcended by the Call placed on their lives. Missing you all and excited to think about your return!!