Dayenu is my middle name! I made this discovery when I was 35. I don't remember how it came to me, but I remember where I was, because my next thought was to jump online, which at that time, meant sitting down in front of my computer, to see if Dayenu was available as a personalized license plate in Arkansas, where I live. It was! I ordered DAYENU for my Prius, and my heart sang with joy the rest of the day!
There is a lot of back story here, but I will (try to) make it quick. When my mother was in 8th grade in Gila Bend, Arizona, her friend Linda Kilgore, welcomed a baby sister to her family. She was named Kelly Kilgore. My mother had never heard Kelly as a girl's name, and she loved it. She carried the idea of having a daughter named Kelly for 15 or 16 years, depending on when Kelly Kilgore was born. She must have been born in '57 or '58, which means she could quite possibly be within reach! If anyone knows where Linda Kilgore is, or Kelly Kilgore, that would be a fun connection for me to make!
When Mother was expecting me, she lay awake one night trying to decide what would go with Kelly, and she came across the name Diane. She loved the way Kelly Diane sounded, especially with Drake, which would be my last name. Kelly Diane Drake. The only problem she had with this, is that she knew a Diane that, as she told me, "she couldnt' stand"--I have no idea why she didn't like that particular Diane, but Mother decided she could change her association with that Diane she couldn't stand, by changing the spelling (little did she know she was starting a trend with me that I would carry on repeatedly throughout my life! I love to change the spelling of words to give new or fuller meaning!) She ended up spelling my name Dyanne, saying she liked the y in Kelly and the y in Dyanne (I agree with her wholeheartedly!) and she liked the e at the end of Dyanne, and the e at the end of Drake. Nice. Also, the double ll in Kelly was complimented by the double nn in Dyanne. I appreciate very much her thoughtfulness! I just wish I could tell her how it has paid in limitless dividends!
I don't remember when the word Dayenu came across my path, but I instantly felt kinship with Dayenu, because it sounds like Dyanne! Dayenu-Dyanne! Dayenu is a Hebrew word that means "it would have been enough"! Dayenu is sung at Passover, the world over, with more stanzas than you can count! Dayenu is a song of gratefulness to GOD for His deliverance from Egypt, and for the many subsequent miracles and blessings that followed the Great Exodus! Dayenu! Had the LORD only delivered us from Egypt! Dayenu! Had He only swallowed up Pharoah's army in the Red Sea! Dayenu! Had He only fed us manna in the wilderness! Dayenu! Had he only led us into the Promised Land! Dayenu! You can see, quickly, how this expression of praise and worship and thanksgiving can go on and on and on! There is no end to all the good things GOD does for us! Dayenu!
Dayenu! is the story of my life, and, I am quite sure, yours as well! We simply cannot count or recall every good thing He has done for us in the course of our lives! Dayenu should be on our lips every single day! And so it was....I must have been recalling some wonderful thing GOD had done in my life, because I thought Dayenu, and then I thought, wait! Dayenu not only sounds like Dyanne--Dayenu IS Dyanne! I hurried to find some paper and, I am pretty sure it was a Sharpie, wrote out my middle name, wrote out Dayenu, and saw a perfect match!
Whatever your middle name is, I hope you know the abundant goodness of walking with GOD every day of your life! Dayenu is a good word for all of us! It would have been enough! Dayenu!
