Tuesday 17 November 2009

I'm fortunate enough to live just next door to the beautiful Bushy Park. This slice of elegant parkland was once Henry VIII's hunting ground, and now it is open for all to enjoy, as well as for the deer who live there. Of course, one feature of living near the park is that we find ourselves on a kind of canine motorway. Early in the morning the pavement outside is busy with all the local dogs heading off enthusiastically to the park - tails wagging and noses twitching.

Maybe it's because we see the same ones every day that we have taken to giving them nicknames. There's dumb and dumber - the two Springer spaniels who always have one tail up and one tail down and who seem to have more enthusiasm than sense. Then there's fat and wheezy - whose name is obvious. There's responsible retriever, who walks along beside her owner with frondy tail waving and that wonderful grin on her face, glancing proprietarily at the owners baby in the pushchair beside her. Last but not least, there is clever Alsatian - so named because she carries her own Frisbee to the park every day. Presumably she is even cleverer now, as she has moved on from a Frisbee to a boomerang - quite a mouthful for any dog.

Why is it that we love to give nicknames? Perhaps it's a man thing. Somebody wrote to me the other day saying that 'if Laura, Kate and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Kate and Sarah. If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla and Four-eyes'. Its funny because its true!

When Jesus moved from town to town healing people, he often insisted on knowing their real name before he did it. This was especially important for those whose affliction had made them an outcast to their community - and they had become simply 'the leper' or 'that beggar' or 'the madman on the hill'. Asking their name was a way of assuring them that they still mattered, and that God sees the person not the problem. Asking their name was the most human thing anyone had done for them in a long time. It's a lesson we really need to take to heart when dealing with others - especially the awkward ones.

Of course for all I know the dogs passing by my house in the morning might have a nickname for me. Its probably something along the lines of 'odd bloke staring out of the window' or 'tousled hair man'. Oh well, at least God loves me - even in the mornings.