Before They Hear Us

Some of the best conversations in the world are with 3 and 4 year olds! Their innocence mixed with brutal honesty can leave the listener staggering under the weight of the message.

Three year old Christy and I were chatting after church one Sunday. The morning had been a busy one, and I just needed to catch up with her on how her time in Sunday school class had gone. I started out by asking who the helper was in her class that day.

Christy replied, “Oh, ya know… their was Aunt Sonia, and the lady that you have to touch her before she hears you.”

I just stared at my little girl in silence. I had just heard a powerful sermon… in one sentence. Christy had learned that the helper in her class, who was hearing impaired, would “hear” her if she touched her first. This alerted the woman to turn to look at the child, and then she could lip read what they were saying.

We have to touch them before they hear us.

Jesus showed us so perfectly how it’s done. As he walked the dusty roads of Galilee and Judea, He met the people right where they were, in their need…. touching them, healing them, feeding them, helping them, listening to them…. and then teaching them.

Sometimes we over complicate the simplicity that God calls us to. It was after Jesus had washed His disciples’ feet that He taught them about washing each other’s feet. They simply were ready to listen. He said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” John 13:15

If you have… brought a few cookies to your neighbor who’s been sick ….. stopped in the grocery store aisle to hear a lonely elderly shopper tell you their woes….. plowed a neighbor’s driveway on a snowy morning…. dropped a card in the mail to someone whose heart has been torn by grief…. called someone who has been going through a rough patch – just to cheer them up…. dropped off a coffee to a single mom, who’s struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel…. dragged your weary body out of bed for the ninth time that night to check your child’s fever, praying it will break…. placed an arm around a friend, as their tears fell heavy on a grave… held the hand of a stranger who had no place to call ‘home’….

…. then you have touched them. Maybe now they’ll hear you.