Naming the Animals...

The honest truth is that I stole the title. Donald Miller wrote a book called “Searching for God Knows What” and you should read it if you haven’t because he has a BIG brain. In one of the chapters he talks about Adam and Eve as real people and love and relationships and the Fall and makes some really good observations about it all. Of course what I got out of the chapter was really not the main point at all, but something about the process of Adam naming the animals resonated with me even more than the other really brilliant observations that Miller makes.

Genesis 2:18-20
18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.

Here are some things Miller had to say:
“[God] did not give Adam what he needed immediately. He waited. He told Adam to name the animals…I actually thought about what would be involved in a job as big as naming the animals. In my mind this had been such an effortless action; Adam sits on a log with his hand on his chin, God parades the animals by rather quickly, Adam calls out names under his breath: Buffalo, chimp, horse, mouse, lizard, buffalo…uh, wait-did I already say buffalo? Um, well-how about cow; did I already say cow?...even if you believe in evolution, that means there were between one million and fifty million species around in the time of the Garden, and Adam, apparently, had to name all of them. The entire time he was lonely”

I feel like I’m at a place in my life where God is asking me to name the animals. Now let’s not be ridiculous, that is not a literal statement. First of all I don’t expect Him to remove one of my ribs when I’m done and make another person, also Adam was a man and (excuse me I have something to say) I am a girl. I could list of all kinds of differences, but that isn’t the point. God knew what would make Adam content, but before God created Eve, Adam had to be uncomfortable for a while. God left Adam lonely while giving him the task of naming all of the animals.

I honestly don’t feel lonely, I have beautiful support systems of absolutely wonderful people at home and at school and now even in Texas but I am going to Africa alone. Yes, yes I will meet people there and I will be surrounded by people there but I am making the journey alone. God knows what makes me comfortable and I am being asked, for a season, to step out of my comfort zone. I often worry about coming home to lost friendships, going back to school realizing that everyone and everything has changed and moved on without me. The truth is that I know there will be changes, but I also know that God is faithful. If God was willing to leave Adam lonely while asking him to name the animals, it is not unrealistic that He is asking me to go to the other side of the world alone.

Since the animal naming job was already taken, I am moving on to other adventures with full confidence that God can comfort the aches and pains that come with separation and uncertainty and loneliness and that His plan is good and that He really is faithful.

So here’s to seasons of change and challenges and the realization that stepping outside of the comfort zone is hard and painful and a little scary, but beautiful and exciting and where God is asking me to go. Alone.