dailydatewithgod

When I was a kid I remember that the kids with nicknames seemed to be cool. I am sure it was just a perception as it was only a shortened version or their initials that gave them a nickname. For a while I had my friends call me by my initials but it did not quite stick. I suppose something about giving myself the nickname to a group of people who already knew me made it hard to stick. When I was in college I had more luck. Nothing in my life was going according to my plan of moving away from home and going to a dance school so I figured I would give myself a new moniker. As I met new people at university I introduced myself as Cole. It took many of the letters of my name and I love Cole Porter’s music. Gratefully, It stuck for all 4 1/2 years before I decided to retire it. There was something about having a moniker of my choosing. Something connected to my love for music and particularly unique. It was also interesting to notice how many eyebrow lifts I got from professors as to why I was seemingly known for a typically male nickname. But I did not care in the least and I even met one guy at the Catholic Newman center who knew who Cole Porter was. It made up for all the clever folks who said “Cool Cole” like it was the first time it had ever been uttered. We do not all get to choose our names but we can choose a moniker. Even if it is one that is not uttered to anyone but ourselves. I often wonder what God’s moniker is for me. God calls each of us by a moniker that calls us to show up as the unique and true expression of life what we are. It matters little what monikers other people have for it, it is ours. I like to think of it as my moniker written in love. A love so profound that I only come close enough to potentially uttering it through the resonance of my being but not through words. We concern ourselves a lot with how people see us, but God invites us to see what the moniker on our hearts is because it is within that moniker that we will hear the voice of love.