What's in a name?

Before finding out that our baby was a girl, I was thinking a lot about names.  If it had been a boy, he would have been named David, for several reasons.  David is the name of Ryan's father, and also Ryan's middle name.  David also means "beloved", which is what Amy means.  But most of all, David in the Bible was a "man after God's own heart", and what more could I possibly wish for my son? It got me thinking a lot about David.  He was such a sinful man (not that I have the right to say that!).  But his sins were the big ones: lust, adultery, lying, and murder.  So how could this man possibly be so honored by God, that He could be called a man after His own heart?  I think it comes down to the fact that David was passionately in love with God.  His Psalms are a clear indication of that.  Through all his hardships, and all his sins, he always came back to the "unfailing love of God" and rested in that knowledge.

So just because my child will be Audrey Elizabeth instead of David, I still wish that for her.  She can still be a child after God's own heart and be passionately in love with Him, even if her name isn't David.  In fact, I still wish that for me, because I am His beloved, too.