Our Baby Girl's Name

(Note: This is a special guest post by Bert … since it’s named “The Watts’ Spot” and not “Stephanie’s Spot,” I get to jump on here now and again and write something too!)

Hannah knows our new baby's name.

It’s funny to me. As I write this, no one else in the entire world other than Stephanie and me knows her name. But we figured the secret was safe with Hannah.

She can say it, too. We’ll ask her sometimes what the new baby’s name is, and she’ll say it, in her still-trying-to-figure-out-how-to-talk kinda way. We know what she’s saying. But if you asked her, without knowing the name, I’m not sure you’d decipher it.

But Hannah’s getting better at talking, so we figured that we better spill the beans with our new baby’s name before she does! And besides, we want everyone to be able to call our daughter by name when we talk about her!

So here goes….

For our new baby, what we've decided to name her reflects what we pray will be true of her life.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world,” and then He gave His followers the command to “Let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

Responding to the command in his own life, the apostle Paul asked the Colossian church to pray for him, that he would be able “to declare the mystery of Christ” and “make it clear” (Colossians 4:2-4). Paul wanted the light of the gospel to shine clearly and brightly through his words.

A life shining bright and clear for God—that’s what we hope and pray for Emily and Hannah, and the same is true for our new daughter.

Like Emily (whose middle name is Jean, for Stephanie's Grandmother) and Hannah (whose middle name is Elizabeth after Stephanie's mom), we wanted to give our new baby girl a middle name after someone in our family. When we thought about someone dear to us whose life has shone bright and clear for God through her works and her words, we thought about my mom, Linda Watts. Mom’s life displayed Christ brightly as she worked to be sure each of her children grew up meaningfully involved in a Christ-centered church. She has modeled service to God through giving her time for decades to serve the church by teaching children and youth, and by serving in mission trips, VBS and Sunday school.

These things show what we hope and pray for our new daughter’s life: that she would shine as a bright, clear light for Christ. With that in mind, and in honor of the Christ-exalting life of my mom, we will be giving our newest daughter the name:

Claire Kaylin Watts

Claire means “clear” and “bright.” May she shine brightly and clearly for Jesus.

Kaylin comes from my mother’s given name Linda Kay. May Claire’s life serve Christ and His church like the life of her Grandmama.

Claire, we love and pray for you, and we cannot wait to hold you and meet you very soon. Shine brightly for Christ. Love Him, trust Him, obey Him, follow Him and make Him known by your works and your words.