When I was about four years old my dad flew to Melbourne to visit family. It was the first time he was absent from the family home for a few nights and I remember missing him very much. One night I was tucked into bed and was informed that when I woke up the next day daddy would be home again. I woke up in the middle of the night and I could clearly hear my dad’s voice from the dining room which backed on to my bedroom.
I padded down the hallway and opened the door and there he was! My daddy had come home and I knew that the world was a safe place of live in again. According to my dad I walked in the room and said “I thought I heard my daddy” and then I sprinted for his arms and was asleep within minutes.
Unlike the lamp story this one I remember with perfect clarity. I remember feeling that I didn’t like my world without my daddy in it and that he needed to come home quickly. Like most children I was convinced that my daddy was the biggest and strongest man I would ever meet. I was also convinced that if there was a super hero ‘fight off’ then my dad would of course beat them all.
As an adult I still feel the same way about my father God only this time I know that he really can beat anything thrown his way. Unlike my earthy father God is with me during every step of every day and my job is learning how to recognise his voice so that I can pick it out in a crowd.
My voice is incredibly similar to my mothers and I have had to stop people on the phone and explain that I am in fact Rachel and not Peggy. People who did not know us both well could not distinguish our voices via a phone. However, people who loved us both knew instantly who had picked up the phone and just said “hello”.
Short story about “hello” and the telephone. When he was inventing the phone Alexander Graham Bell suggested that we all answer the phone with “ahoy”. Can you imagine doing that? I just can’t for some reason, I’m a land dweller so it makes little sense to me. More info about this can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahoy_(greeting)
My point is that recognising voices can only be perfected by spending time with the person in question - you learn their speech patterns, tone and inflection and before you know it you will be able to recognise their voice even if you are in an adjacent room.
I knew my dad’s voice inside and out and so when I woke up that night, I knew that all that was separating me from reaching him was a door. I just knew that was my daddy’s voice and that in his big safe arms I would be restored again.
I believe that I have a very busy brain and that you do too. I think there is our soul voice - the one that is all about feelings and emotions.
I also believe I have a secular voice which filters my thoughts and feelings and then asks how will other people respond to my decisions. It’s that voice that says things like “don’t say that people will think you are weird”.
And then finally I have a spiritual voice which is Gods way of talking directly with me.
The trick is working out which voice is talking at any given moment. Some days I pay too much attention to what the world is telling me. I watch the news with my hand over my mouth and wonder at how cruel we can be to each other.
Or I listen to my own personal fears and insecurities and don’t do something that would have helped me overcome some of those.
Finally, I have a third voice in my head and its Gods. To begin with it was the quietest voice of the three and it’s the easiest voice to brush aside particularly if you’re emotionally charged.
With time I have learned to shush the other two voices and sit in silence and stillness and hear what my creator daddy is trying to tell me. He loves me unconditionally and only wants the very best for me. However, like all good parents he knows ahead of time which roads will lead me astray and he tries to manoeuvre me in the right direction to avoid pot holes.
When I was a new Christian, I was very like a small child. I would go from utter joy into despair and back again in the blink of an eye. Just like a small child I needed to learn that my daddy wasn’t being mean when he said no - he was simply protecting and shielding me from situations that would cause me harm.
I cannot wait to see my earthy daddy in heaven and I just know that any unresolved issues we had will simply go “poof” in an instant. I get the feeling that when you reach eternity the small things of life are exactly that - small and not worth holding onto any longer.
We will all be able to put down our heavy packs full of the wounds we picked up here on earth and then we will simply walk away from them without a backwards glance.
Doesn’t that sound like heaven?
This weeks quote: Where there is love, there is LIFE. Gandhi