Say My Name, Say My Name...

This blog is all my husband's fault.  If you must know.

I might have mentioned this before, but if you are new around here, you might not know.

When I got married, my name changed from Jocelyn Hatch to

Jocelyn Christensen.

It didn't really sink in until halfway through my engagement, that I was literally taking the name of Christ upon me...for all the world to see.

What was this going to mean for me?

One of my biggest worries was that the tech guys at work were going to change my inter-office instant message name from "jhatch" to "jchrist".

(They typically shortened long last names this way.)

It suddenly dawned on me that I would never again feel comfortable blowing off steam under the screen name "jchrist".  I mean how would that look to the person on the other end of the message?  Would J. Christ complain or make a snide remark?  Never.

It turned out that they did not abbreviate my name after all. 

(Thank you, tech guys, for your good judgment!)

But that lesson struck to the core of me and has stayed with me.

I am now Jocelyn Christensen.

It's sort of a mouthful and it takes longer to write, but it has been a constant reminder to me to watch what I do and say, to be kinder, to be wiser, and to shape up!

It has given me a focus in life...an excuse...to use my name to honor Him.

We all have that excuse, right?

If you have been baptized, you have covenanted to follow Him, to take His name upon you, and to remember Him always.

Perhaps I just needed the reminder more than most...and more often...

...like every time I sign my name, 

or answer the phone, 

or read my mail, 

or log in to my email account, 

or introduce myself to a stranger...

When I started having children, I realized that they too would need to understand who they were and the responsibility (and the JOY!) that comes with taking the name of Christ upon ourselves.

So I took my favorite scripture and made it my motto for how I would lead my children safely back to Him.


(I also use it as the theme & focus of this blog!)

"And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophesies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

2 Nephi 25:26

So now you know.

Thanks for joining me in this quest and encouraging me in my journey!