Why I keep my nametags

At the places I go, I often end up with nametags.  I always keep them.  Not forever; they often wear out and I have to toss them, but as long as the memory of the event is fresh in my mind, I keep my nametag.

This fall I travelled with a group of ladies to the Church of the Ressurection Leadership Institute in Kansas. At the end of the retreat, most people turned their nametags in so they could be recycled or repurposed.  I didn't.  My nametag hangs in my office and is a visual reminder of what I learned, how God worked in my life that week, and how lessons and techniques learned there are still being implemented and not forgotten.

At church I have a nametag that says "Communications Coordinator."  I wear it often, but not often enough.  It reminds me that I have a place of belonging, that I am part of a team, and that it is not my job to communicate everything that happens at the church.  It is my job to coordinate the communications.  When I'm overwhelmed, that makes a big difference to me.

At my school, my nametag shows that even though I'm only on campus two days a week, I am part of a staff.  I am an educator.  I don't have to attend faculty meetings, but the nametag gives me entry to every classroom in the building and respect from teachers and parents.

A few years ago, some friends of mine started a non-profit group. Adam and I attended the first Fort Worth Dish Out and I still have the nametag to prove it. It reminds me that I played a role, no matter how small, in the start-up.

This past week I attended open house at Brite Divinity School. My nametag there was simple; just my name on a stark white background, suspended on a string around my neck.  It was perfect in it's message.  Here's a place that is expecting me.  Here's a place that I belong.  I have no idea what this place will look like with me in it, but here is my name.  The future is a blank slate.

Nametags are powerful. I can't wait to see where I get my next one.