Middle Name Meme

Gosh, if I didn't do memes, I'd hardly ever be here. I haven't had the time or brain to post anything original lately. It's just as well; I have good friends who keep me in the neighborhood.

JohnieB tagged me for this meme. Here’s how to play:

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don’t have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother’s maiden name).
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person (or blogger of another species) for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged.)

One of my middle names is Grace. Here goes:

G—Growly in the mornings. Generally good. Giggly, at times.
R—Rebellious. I really hate being told what to do. If you ask me, though, I’m usually willing.
A—Ancient of days. Well, not really—but I certainly felt like it, when I couldn’t kick the flu. Amiable.
C—Charitable. Called. Capricious—but not about what’s real. Committed, to God and to the gospel, and to the work I know is mine.
E—Exuberant, energetic. I noticed when I started feeling better, just last weekend, that I didn’t remember being this sparkly or playful. I’m also a lot less stressed than I have been—but I’ve done an inordinate amount of work, in three days. I’m much more motivated than I had been. That has to do in part with my teachers being kind to me, and giving me grace when I was sick. It does run deeper, though—and I’m both glad of that, and surprised by it. Still, it’s nice to have my natural self back.

It doesn’t fit my alphabet, but someone told me today that I have “an innocence that knows what’s real.” He was responding to a sermon I preached in class (that I’ll post over the weekend; it was the Palm Sunday text). It was a startlingly thoughtful comment, and I thought incredibly kind. I often experience myself as impossibly idealistic. I may be. But I have also seen what I have seen, and it has strengthened, rather than wounded me.

I’m too tired right now to tag five people. Play if you want to.