There is a story told about the Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova. During the Stalin’s reign in Russia, she was standing one morning outside a prison along with some other women, all of whom were trying to deliver letters and packages to their loved ones inside. Their waiting was made more painful because they were not even sure whether their loved ones were still alive and by the fact that the guards made them wait needlessly for hours simply to assert their authority. But, if they wanted to get messages to their loved ones, they had no other option but to wait.
On this particular morning, another woman recognized the poet, approached her, and asked: "Can you describe this?" Akhmatova replied: "I can," and a smile passed between the two women.
Do you realize what had happened? Why did these women, caught up in the madness of a dictator, exchange a smile in such a painful situation? Because to describe something, to simply name something properly, in some way already sets you above it. To name something is to be somehow transcendent to it, not fully imprisoned by it, free of it in some way, even if, like Stalin, it has you under its yoke. To name something properly can be prophetic; it somehow frees the soul even in the most binding set of circumstances.
When our children were little, my wife and I taught them to name their feelings. We taught them to tell us exactly what was going on inside their souls. If they were frustrated, to say they were frustrated and not just yell. If they were afraid, to name the fear. If they were glad, to name the joy. When we asked them to name what was going on inside of them, we refuse to accept "I don't know" for an answer. It forced them to get in touch with their feelings and it freed us from misunderstanding them.
Good diagnostics is the prerequisite for good prescription, just as bad diagnostics, bad naming, leads to either bad or useless prescription. A symptom suffers most when it doesn't know where it belongs.
Can you objectively name what is happening in your soul right now? A proper naming does three things: It is prophetic, it points a straight finger to the heart of the situation; it is diagnostic, it points to the correct prescription to help remedy our ills; and, most importantly, it is a form of prayer, it plants the soul with all its roots in God.
Not everything can be fixed or cured immediately, but it should be named properly.
