His name is John - Elizabeth

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote,
“His name is John.”
Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.
All the neighbours were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things.
Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
Luke 1:59-79

My beloved son is a week and a day old
and already it feel like he has been here forever.
What did I do with my time before I was feeding, changing and nursing an infant?
Today our son will be circumcised in accordance with the law.
I try not to think about that too much,
but if God has plans for him,
then our responsibility is to bring him up according to the law.

They gathered round our son to carry out the procedure
and were all set to name him Zechariah after his father.
However, his name had already been chosen by God,
and it is most definitely NOT Zechariah!
So I just had to speak
"No! He is to be called John!"
Well that set the cat among the pigeons.
Firstly, a woman speaking out.
Secondly, a woman challenging them.
Thirdly, providing an answer they didn't expect.
They all turned and looked at me.
I didn't let my gaze waver,
for I knew the name that God had given him.
"John?" they queried.
I could see them mentally going through our family tree,
trying to identify a 'John' he could be named after,
and failing.
"There is no-one in your family with that name?"
They turned and looked at John to see what his thoughts were,
but of course, he was still unable to speak,
so he asked for a writing tablet,
and wrote "His name is John".

Well, I was astounded at what happened next.
I have to admit, I never saw this coming at all.
As soon as he confirmed what I had told them,
Zech instantly regained the power of speech.
Goodness me!
Didn't that set all the other tongues wagging!
Zech and I had a jolly good laugh about that, I can tell you.
We were the talk of the village,
the area,
the world probably!
Then they all knew for sure that this child was going to be very special.

Just one thought I have,
If I hadn't spoken up
Zechariah could never have disagreed with me ever again....
Though I have to say, it is lovely to hear his voice once more!