Barbara-It's My Name!

It is my name, but it also belongs to a "whole lot" of other people, too. Just for the fun of it, I googled "Barbara's Blog" yesterday to see if my blog would come up. I didn't find my blog; but I did find that there are 44,300,000 people whose blog is also called "Barbara's Blog!" That just blew me away. How could there possibly be that many other Barbara's who have a blog and who decided to simply call it Barbara's Blog? Unbelievable! Out of curiosity, I decided to scroll through a few pages of the listings just to see what their blogs were about. I discovered that people named Barbara think they know a lot about a lot of things. I also discovered that most of them/us think other people are interested in hearing about their ideas and opinions. These "other" Barbara's provided information, opinions, and/or advice on food, cooking, relationships, religious practices, self-improvement, business success, education, child-rearing, and (literally) millions of other things!
I had two reactions to this amazing discovery. My first response was disappointment; I thought I was unique and now I have learned that there are millions of people named Barbara with a blog named Barbara's Blog. They all probably think they are unique,too. Now the truth is I am unique and so are they. Each one of us was created by God as a one of a kind, unique creation. If you stop to think about it that is a phenomenal concept. How can 44 million Barbara's be unique? I don't really know "how," I just know we are. Our problem is that we wrap our concept of uniqueness around our name because that is how we identify ourselves. When we say our name it isn't just a word; it is the sum of who we are and when we tell someone our name it is actually an invitation for them to learn about us and all that is wrapped up in that seemingly simple word.
So, on the one hand I realized that I wanted to be unique and was disappointed that I was just one of so, so, many Barbara's. On the other hand, I remembered as a young girl reading one of those books that lists the meaning of names, that my name meant "the stranger." I didn't particularly like that. I didn't want to be a stranger; I wanted to belong. I wanted to be a part of other people and feel included. At first it seemed somewhat contradictory to be disappointed to find out that my blog's name is not unique and to also be bothered that my name means "the stranger." So, I have been thinking about this, I realize it isn't contradictory at all. In reality, it really describes my life journey, and I suspect that it describes yours, too. We are all trying to be unique and, yet, we also have a need to belong. Sometimes, we struggle with those seemingly conflicting needs. What I have come to realize is that if I focus on the way God created me and allow God to develop the uniqueness of who He created, I come much closer to understanding that I am unique and that I belong.
However, since the goal of a blog is to spark interest so that people will find your blog, it does seem necessary for the name to be a little more unique. Thus, this blog is now "Barb on the Go." Let's hope this one is a little more unique!