This morning after almost exactly four hours of labor we finally got to meet the newest addition to our family. Mother and baby are doing great. The little fellow is happily nursing as I write this, and his momma’s enjoying calling friends and family and filling them in on all the details. Some vitals statistics:

Name:	William Justice Talbott
Born on:	May 11th, 2006 at 09:19AM
Length:	20.75 inches
Weight:	8 lbs, 15 oz

What’s in a Name?

When a child is born, we who have already given it life have the awesome privilege of giving it one more thing that it will carry for the rest of that life: a name. Names are so important. They affect every interaction we have throughout our days, and in so doing they mold us and shape us in ways that we often can’t see.

This morning as our new little one lay limp, struggling mightily to gain his first breath, I immediately began to call him by his new name: William. At first it seemed awkward, but a few long seconds later as he finally started to wail, it was already becoming second nature. William. Of course that was his name. William Justice Talbott – yes, I think that will fit him just fine.

Little children need big names. It’s just like when they play dress-up, and doff daddy’s shoes or momma’s hat, except in this case they’ve slipped in to their own future clothing. Someday it will fit them like a glove, but for now it’s more like the scruff of a puppy’s neck – loose, baggy, and perfectly suited to grabbing them and playing with them, or quickly pulling them back from danger.

So what about promises and warnings? When my sweet Anne Marie was born I said that I hope to give each child a promise and a warning in their name, and that desire stands. So lets see what we find in the way of promise and warning in little William’s name.

Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. (Proverbs 31:8-9)

William Justice – Determined Guardian of Justice. What a breathtaking promise! To be one of God’s great judges, executing justice for the poor and the afflicted, delivering them from the hands of their oppressors and setting them in a safe place. There are a multitude of ways to live out this promise, all of them praiseworthy. Who knows – it may very well start with being the careful, wise considerer of sibling disputes.

But justice only occurs in the context of judgement, and here we find the warning:

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (Isaiah 11:1-4)

Never forget, little William, that in all of our justice we are but servants of the Great Judge, who will judge the earth in righteousness. Never forget that He “will reprove with equity for the meek of the earth” and “with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” Never forget, for in forgetting you will leave justice, not only for those you serve, but also for yourself.

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10)

Never forget, little William, and you will eternally be a Determined Guardian of Justice.