By Melody Moore
I am incredibly blessed. In this particular case, I’m talking about my job. I’m a high school special education teacher in a medium-sized town in Indiana. I love the kids. I love my job. And I have some awesome coworkers.
But it doesn’t matter where you work or how amazing 99% of your coworkers are, there’s always a small population you hope new-hires don’t meet first. Today I had the privilege of sitting at a table with the three in our building.
It was the end of teacher appreciation week, and all the staff members were enjoying the amazing fajitas, rice, and beans the Spanish Club made for us. Delicious!! I tried a few times to join the conversation, making on-topic remarks about the previous evening’s track meet. After being snubbed or completely ignored several times, I cried out in my head, “Do you know what it’s like to sit at a table where no one will acknowledge you?!”
They didn’t hear me. But God did. I wasn’t even praying. I was just being frustrated. That’s when I heard God say, “It’s not your table.”
That simple statement immediately washed over my heart with profound peace and belonging. I was at complete peace with, “No. That’s not my table. Those aren’t my people.” I felt complete belonging because I simultaneously saw a picture of all the people who do sit at my table, and that table is huge! It’s full of people who love me and whom I love. I sit at the Lord’s table. Everyone is welcome here. Everyone. But not everything is welcome.
What was even more important than the short phrase that brought me comfort was realizing the Holy Spirit was listening to my angst and responding. And I heard Him! Even when we aren’t praying, God is paying attention!!!
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires” (Romans 8:5).
The flesh desires to be accepted nearly everywhere we go, but it never occurred to me that adults would exhibit this kind of behavior. But people are people, and age doesn’t seem to matter all that much.
“The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). Praise God! I have the Holy Spirit living inside me, and I clearly heard Him! I was truly in a celebratory mood! There is no way that the old me would have heard Him and had access to the life and peace the Apostle Paul is talking about here in Romans.
I love YouVersion. It’s an app that you download to your phone or tablet and puts biblical resources at your fingertips, including several versions of the Bible and thousands of Bible studies. I’ve been focusing on the Holy Spirit lately. At some point, I realized that I had been neglecting His Amazing gift. I also have issues listening and trusting that I heard what I thought I heard. I’m not saying that everything is perfect and I now hear everything He has to say. Far from it. But it has begun. To have recognized his voice and heard his message so clearly is all I need to throw myself even deeper into the study of His Word, prayer, and meditation.
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26).
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