I think all of us have a desire to know we’re significant and to have a true purpose. Many of us want to be noticed by someone, by anyone.
Right now, with so many lives on hold and jobs that have been lost, it seems that people are floating around aimlessly in deep water, not knowing where the surface is or if they will ever reach it. Having someone call your name and look for you would be a feeling or sense of belonging that many have not had for a long time.
I have been working in a delightful preschool with amazing little beings. There is one little boy in my class who does not like playing alone — ever. He avoids it at all costs. He’s great at sharing his feelings, and he tends to drum up enough of his own noise to the point where one would swear he’s talking to an entire mob of children. He needs to be encouraged occasionally to concentrate on his own work alone and not to try to recruit other people.
There’s another little boy who is very happy doing puzzles and playing completely alone during free time…actually he would prefer to do all of his group school work alone. He has to be reminded to work with his group and contribute his imagination to a team. He’s not lonely at all; he’s just very content. He gets so deeply involved in his quiet alone time that he doesn’t hear his name being called the first several times. Our first little boy gets so involved with creating his own crowd at an exuberant noise level that his name needs to be called many times before he’s aware that someone else is making some noise too! Neither child is deliberately ignoring the teacher. They are both submerged in a world they have created for themselves. That’s how they are comfortable with a huge world that they’ve only known for four or five years; they have learned to self-soothe.
We do that. Well, I know I do that. I’m not an adorable, innocent preschooler, but I do create my own world where I am significant and determined to feel needed. On a basic level, that’s not bad, but that does limit the options of truly making a difference in the world of reality. Social media has made us count the number of “likes” on our posts to determine our importance and significance. TV tells us exactly how to be socially acceptable and politically correct in our caring. Of course we create our own worlds!
I often fail to “hear my name being called” when I’m completely involved in my own comfortable and familiar world. By that, I mean that I, or we, become deaf and blind to change. God can place open doors right in front of us, but we will turn away and go backwards into the land of familiarity. That land has the voices we recognize and the activities we recognize. And we can never hear anyone telling us anything different.
In truth, we don’t need to hear anything loudly, but we need to hear clearly. In the Bible, Elijah stood on a mountain, and he saw that God was not in the violent wind, or in an earthquake, or even in a huge fire. But then there was a gentle whisper – and there God was.
Whispers are often the right voice we need at the right time if we decide to listen. I whispered to my babies when they were first born. My husband would whisper to me if I overslept and needed to get up. We whisper precious and important secrets that we want kept safe. Imagine being screamed at in all of those situations! God whispers to us when all we can do is hysterically run around carrying out our own agenda of busy. Being busy is necessary, but it has its place. Let’s not forget to take the time to assess our busyness. See if our name is being called gently to switch gears or to strengthen our current path. Either way, we can
Dance on.
Grace Notes 