This was my first birthday without my Dad with me in person. Birthdays always involved dinner together with a beautiful mealtime conversation. Dad would share a favorite memory together from the year and then give me some words of encouragement and praise. Last year, we were in Oklahoma together. My Dad’s birthday is in March, and two of my three daughters–one birthday each week for four weeks. Last year, each person had a special meal in Oklahoma with memories and spotlighting. Spotlighting is where you compliment someone at the table with intentional words of love and admiration. Then that person spotlights someone else until the circle is completed. I remember clearly Dad’s birthday. We were gathered around a sunny table. I had a small voice in my mind whisper this could be your last birthday with your Dad. I believe it was God preparing me for the road ahead. I tried to remember every moment of that birthday with my Dad because the small whisper struck me as significant. 

I think of Elijah looking for the Lord. He didn’t find God in the wind or earthquake but in the whisper. I need to remember this lesson that messages may not be as dramatic as I expect but to notice and seek to listen for the whisper. 

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. – I Kings 19: 11-13 

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