SHARON AMARAEH FORD LAMB

In arriving at the sage season of life, it is humbling, painful, gratifying, and amazing to view the past and discover what experiences have opened the eyes of full understanding and awareness of the true nature of self and of others (all having good and evil aspects), and of all creatures and creation.

Without falling into dark times, and without pain and death, there could be no understanding, no light, no joy, no living. Life and death are compounds and one cannot be comprehended or experienced without the other. Similarly, war and peace, hate and love, evil and good, pain and joy, yin and yang, are opposite and interconnected elements. Fully embracing this aspect of life opens the heart, mind and soul to a peace beyond description. It is something that one can only gain through experience, and it is of great worth.

At this point in life, I am acutely aware of how fluid and fleeting "the present" is. The present is a breath in time which moment by moment becomes the past.

In looking too much to the past or future, one forgoes the ability to savor and enjoy the present.

In living only in the present without conscious awareness of the past and future, one is not fully alive, and one cannot learn from past mistakes and successes and change the future by recognizing and then letting go of an extreme path leading to destruction and despair, and embracing a balanced straight and narrow path leading to life and Godly love, bliss, nirvana.

Is a life that ends in material loss a failure? Is a life that ends in material gain a success? How can material loss or gain define any when all creation comes from and is owned by God? In every home, organization, and nation material loss eventually gives way to gain, and gain to loss. Nothing but true understanding and Godly love can be realized in life, as God owns everything and change is necessary for life and growth.

In contemplating all of this and the transition to a new season that is taking place in my life, a new name has emerged that will be my middle name. This name describes who I am, a changing and developing child of God's love and grace experiencing all aspects of life.

The most influential person in my life for embracing change is my mother, and so the name starts with the letters of her first name in reverse: "Amar", and ends with letters "aeh" from the names of four more progressive and influential elder women in my life, my mother-in-law: Marion (Alice), my grandmothers: Helen, and (Clara) Alvira, and my great aunt, and aunt: (Mary) Rhea, and Joan.

The pronunciation of Amaraeh is: A-MA-ra (soft a's and silent "eh")

The feminine form of "Amar" is "Amara."

"Amara" is multinational and has a variety of spellings and meanings which inform the full meaning of life (changing like the moon and sea, bitterness, anger, urgency, mercy, kindness, love, laughter, smiles, assistance, peace, steadfast as the sun, loveliness, full of grace and beauty, eternal, immortal): Arabic/Egyptian (moon, long-lived), Celtic (eternal), English (grace, eternal beauty), Ethiopia (paradise, urgent business), German (eternal), Greek (unfading, everlasting), Hebrew (grace, favor), Hindi (immortal), Igbo (grace), Indonesia/Malaysia (anger), Islam (eternal beauty, urgent news), Italian (bitter, from same root as Mary and Miriam), Japanese (heavens/sky smile or laugh, good, virtuous, respectable), Mongolia (peaceful), Nigeria (grace, mercy, kindness), Romania (the bitter one), Sanskrit (immortal), Spanish (imperishable), Urdu (grass, immortal one, aid, assistance, steadfast, lovely forever, imperishable)

Related names are: Amarena (bitter cherry originating in Italy), Amaretto (bitter flavor from almonds originating in Italy), Amaranth (ornamental flower, grain), Amaryllis (flower, fresh, sparkling), Amari (Hebrew: gift of God), Amaris (Hebrew: promised by God), Amarissa (Hebrew: given by God), Mara (Hebrew: bitter), Mary or Miriam (Italian: bitter), Hannah or Anna (Hebrew: grace, favor), Carissa (Latin: beloved, bitter), Moira (Multinational: of the sea, bitter, destiny, fate), amore (Italian: love)