His Finest Whispers

In my early years as a teacher, I dreaded going to trainings of any kind.  Working in the early childhood area, the information never seemed to apply to me.  Each time a training was required of me, I tended to go into it with my jaw set...knowing I would be bored and that it was a total waste of time. So, when asked to attend a workshop in my local area that was about technology and how it was used with children who had disabilities, I was resentful that I had to attend to represent the school district. This did NOT apply to me at all.  First, I hardly ever used this type of technology in my room and second, I was not serving any child who had a disability that year! Grudgingly, I loaded up my note taking materials and headed to the location to sit. 

Sure enough...as the workshop drug on through the hours of the afternoon, I became more and more restless. Then it happened.  A young girl with Down Syndrome appeared on the screen with a facilitator to show all of us an example of how to use the technology.  Her innocence and the clarity of her voice captured my attention. The facilitator began to try and draw her into a conversation. "Are you having a birthday this week?"  "Yes," she said quietly. "Are you going to have a party?" "Yes," she answered again. "Who will be coming to the party?" asked the facilitator. "Jesus," the young voice said. Not quite knowing how to respond to that answer, the facilitator continued, "Oh...well...who else will come?" "I don't know," she said.  Still trying to elicit more conversation for this experiment the facilitator asked, "How do you know that Jesus will be coming?" Then it happened.  What was said next would forever stay in my memory. "Jesus is coming," she said. "I know He is coming because He speaks to me in His finest whispers." That sentence was said with such clarity, no one could mistake its meaning. I still feel chills throughout my body even today as I write those words. "He speaks to me in His finest whispers." That young girl with Down Syndrome was not as busy as the rest of us.  She probably had time alone at home, while everyone else was busy playing or running here and there. But in her quiet moments, Jesus had spoken to her. He had spoken to her in His finest whispers. 

Several things happened to me that day.  I began to realize that God was even in the required trainings. Even when I don't want to go to this or that, He has a plan and will speak to me if I am open to hear Him.  I have a choice...I can dread the appointment or I can go in looking for the God moment.  When I do the latter, He always speaks. There is always a divine intervention. The other realization? God desires to speak to me in the same way that He spoke to that young girl. When I draw away from the busy-ness...He will speak to me, too, in His finest whispers.