Dear All of Us,
Hang on to your hat,
steady your head and heart.
This is going to be all over the place.
I'm high as a kite - been up all night.
At 1:49 this morning my
daughter and her husband birthed
GrandBoy
our first grandchild.
That's more than something for
an eighty one year old
let me tell you
and I sure do want to !
Even deeper and better,
GrandBoy and I have had
a soulful togetherness
while he was in utero,
growing up to grow out and on,
to come alive to give life.
We communed beyond words.
Affinity
More than biological bond - way more.
Around three this morning
my wife and I got to see
Mom, Dad and GrandBoy
via facetime.
What a beautiful child.
His soul shows through his body,
and soul he is.
Mom and Dad just glowed.
Over the past nine months
the best kept strategic secret
here in Washington, DC
-a city of super secrets -
has been what will his name be?
Now name is more than handle.
It's meant to be sacred.
That's how it was in ancient Israel.
Have you ever wondered about
the second of the ten commandments?
After God states his stake in the first,
God then says
"Thou shall not take the name
of the Lord, your God in vain."
Is God Himself being a bit vain here,
a tad too touchy?
Not at all.
Those commandments were
given by Jews in the manner
of their understanding,
their culture and custom.
In ancient Israel
their valuation was
The Name Is The Person,
an absolute equivalency.
Name is sacred.
Given that, what would
our daughter and son-in-love
name this dear man child?
OLIVER MARTIN MINNICH
The wonderful words were spoken
by our daughter during our facetime,
I cannot tell you my joy.
You see, my middle name is
Oliver
Oliver comes from the Latin
"olivarious," meaning
the olive tree planter.
In Hebrew the biblical olive tree
symbolizes fruitfulness
and beauty and dignity.
To offer an olive branch
is to lovingly offer peace.
Yes, this little man
not only has soul,
he can draw from
a profound spiritual stream.
He also has another heritage.
Martin
is for Martin Luther,a nod
to the German Lutheran
heritage on his
Minnich
side and the name
of the dorm where
his Mom and Dad met at
Muhlenberg College,
an outstanding Lutheran
center of leaning.
There's more.
St. Martin of Tours
is the patron saint of France.
He is lovingly remembered
for sharing more than
the shirt off his back.
One frigid winter day
Martin saw a freezing beggar.
Getting off his horse
he drew his sword,
slashed his cloak in two
and shared it with
the freezing beggar.
There's "spirituality for the street"!!
And get this.
Oliver's initials are
OMM
That is also a sacred sound
in Indian and Buddhist religion.
It signifies the essence
of ultimate reality,
consciousness.
I share all this with you
for the sheer joy of it,
mine and I hope yours.
It's yet another wondrous
utterance of Gospel,
God News.
Thanks for letting me
enthuse with you.
Grandpa
Ollie the Elder
aka
John Frank
******
Yet another welcome.
This to first time visitors
and to participation
from Indonesia.
Great to be together here
at
"frankly speaking"
spirituality for the street
it goes online early
Thursday mornings
east coast USA time
johnfrankshares@blogspot.com
easily bookmarked
an email version
goes out each Friday
sign up top right
online version
all past postings
are accessible at
Blog Archive
bottom right column
******
See you soon.
Gotta brush up on
how to change a diaper.
******
