My little one is beginning to talk and advocate for herself. It has been a really long time of working with her and trying to find the right things that will help her. There is a talking device, we use basic signs, flash cards, and we give her options of things to help her find her words.

It takes a lot of time, patience, and waiting to help her when she has shut down and cannot find her words. We even have a set of emotion cards to help her find the emotion that she is feeling when a sibling has overstepped her boundaries.

My children are not as patient with her as the adults are. Last week, my friend told the kids, “I need you to try to hear her.” She was referring to all of the signs that my little one gives when something is wrong. She will go from happy to being still and quiet. Her face will change. These might not be things we can “hear”, but we can feel and see the change. My friend was asking them to notice the change, to constantly look for and be aware of her feelings.

I have been thinking a lot about how we recognize the whisperings of the Spirit. God is there. His Spirit is around us. We can feel its whispers. But are we listening? Are we constantly looking for it?

I used to have to have the house quiet or be alone to be able to hear it. I have been working very hard to be able to hear the spirit throughout my day. Slowly, but surely, I have been able to hear the whisperings during homeschool, doctors’ appointments and while visiting with friends.

The other day I was shocked because my children were in the middle of a heated discussion, and I very clearly had an interruption of thought. This thought was so important that the Spirit interrupted during a pretty contentious moment. I knew that I had to listen. I immediately turned on some Christian music and went quiet.

My children had no idea what to think. Finally, one of them asked, are we done talking? I responded that I needed to think, and we listened to the Christian radio as we drove home from church.

It was a wonderful way to pause a heated conversation. Listening to music about Jesus Christ. When we arrived home, everyone went about changing and getting ready for lunch. We ate and then we talked about the way our home feels. How does it feel when we are fighting? How do we want it to feel?

We had just heard an amazing talk in church about how the Patriarch prepares their home to give patriarchal blessings. The kids were so surprised at how much preparation went into this. One thing that was mentioned was that there could be no contention in the home.

My children are young, and they are in those ages where there will be contention as they learn to figure out their complicated adolescent feelings. I am trying to teach them how to maneuver through those feelings and come out in a healthy mindset.

I am trying to teach them to listen to themselves and to their peers. As they learn this skill, they will be able to listen for the Spirit as well.

How do you listen for the Spirit? I have recognized when life gets too loud for me to hear it. As I said before, I was completely surprised when the Spirit interrupted a pretty contentious moment with big emotions all around our car to tell me something.

I knew I had to listen. I don’t yet know what to do with that information, but I do know that God will guide me.

I encourage you to reflect on how loud your life is. Is it preventing you from listening to the Spirit? How can you reduce the noise and distraction level so that you can more easily connect?

Think of it as a poor cell phone connection. If it gets a little staticky on your phone call, do you just deal with it and hope you can understand what is being said? Do you try to get to a better location and increase the bars on your phone? What if it is a very important phone call? How hard do you try then?

I promise as you try to focus on making this connection to the Spirit stronger, you will find success. God wants to connect with you. It will take some effort on your part. How much do you really want it?