Dear Emily Elizabeth Johnson,
You have a very strong name.
I know what it means to love an Emily Elizabeth. Mine loves loyally, works unceasingly, and speaks carefully. She is the enemy of no one (at least of no person.)
To be named Emily is to be called industrious and be associated with powerful, capable women. The English used to name their daughters Emily (and also Elizabeth) after queens, hoping they would bear a fraction of their namesakes’ nobility. Our American family names our daughters Emily after their mothers, I think with a better understanding of what it means for a woman to be regal and powerful.
These Emilys are known for the fruit their lives have borne. I have read about many of them in Mississippi history books, which note their strong arms and working hands. Whether in the field or the house, they finished jobs with unusual vigor. I think they worked hard and well because they kept in mind the reason for all their work: the children they had borne and would soon be sending off, many of whom would become Ole Miss football icons. It is those children that they are now known for, long after the work is done and the farmhouses are forgotten and empty. These, I believe, are the makings of a true queen.
My Emily is no different. She works unceasingly with hands that are capable, treating our home the way a surgeon treats the body. Yet she isn’t known for her work. People don’t talk about how well she keeps our house or how wisely she mothers our little ones. They rave about her children. Emily, of course, would have it no other way. And when this house is torn down or burns with the rest of creation, I hope Emily’s claim to fame will be the children we send out of it.
Yet the diamond bears another facet: a character quality seen only by those who love her most. She loves with a remarkable consistency. Your mother knows my wife as a faithful friend, and I know her as a faithful wife. She has taught me that living with integrity doesn’t just mean doing the right thing; it means doing the right thing day after day after day. This is how my Emily lives, and no doubt how your mother and father will teach you to live.
I refer to these women as queens because the character qualities they exhibit are truly otherworldly. They were given to them by another King, one whom your mother and father will teach you all about. By his kindness, these women, though they look different from the royalty we can see, will one day rule the world alongside this Nazarene King. May you reign with them, with us, and with your mother and father.
So Emily Berryhill Poole brought forth Willodene Poole Robertson, who brought forth Emily Susan Howell, who brought forth Emily Elizabeth Cook, who bore to me Sarah Emily Cook. This is a strong legacy, one of which you now get a piece. I pray you will fill up their measure to the fullest.
With joy at your birth,
Rev. David Michael Cook
Osterville, Massachusetts
July, 2014
