Life or Death Whispers
When I say the word whisper, what comes to mind? Something good? Or something bad?
Actually, let’s make this more personal: When I say, “Someone has been whispering about you,” how does this make your heart feel? Anxious and nervous? Or beaming with the joy of being adored?
Whispers are powerful. Holily powerful and profanely powerful. The whispers that come from the world, the profane whispers, have the power to destroy. Whispers from heaven, the holy whispers, have the power to give life. Which are we more accustomed to? The whispers that tear us down or the whispers that build us up?
Tell me what you saw on entertainment news this evening while you were making dinner, or what you were captivated by in the magazines you glanced at while checking out at the grocery. Even when there is no one speaking directly to us, we are constantly being whispered to. The world is a constant murmur of graceless expectations and judgements. And truthfully, our hearts are more in tune with this lifeless murmur, these whispers of the world, than the adoring and inspiriting whispers of heaven.
Let me tell you a little bit about the whispers of the world. This isn’t new stuff. Somewhere within you already perceive it: Whispers in the world are dark, private or public. The public ones become synonymous with secrets and scandal. Whispers of infidelity. Whispers of abuse. Whispers of addiction. Whispers of neglect and defeat and shameful dishonesty.
These whispers are not child’s play. These whispers become rumors that tear apart families and gravely weaken the soul. But before these public whispers become scandals that shame and condemn us they begin as personal whispers that trap and deceive us.
The dark and personal whispers we hear only in the chambers of our inner being are less dramatic but even more insidious: Whispers that we aren’t good enough. That we’ll never have the life or the love we dreamed. Whispers that we are bad or tainted or undeserving. Whispers that we lost our chance, that we are unworthy, that we are unlovable. Whispers that there is no one who can or wants to protect us so we must protect ourselves. Whispers that tell us the only happiness we can count on is in the happiness we procure ourselves– in the secret trips through the drive-through for a feeling of fullness that can’t be found anywhere else; in the harmless flirtations we engage in at work or online that make us feel more beautiful and wanted than we do at home; in the purchases we charge and the debt we rack up for that momentary feeling of attaining the life and lifestyle that’s not really ours.
And is it any wonder that these are the voices that rattle around our hearts and heads? Go back to what you said you saw on television and were drawn to in the magazines. In between every line, whether written or spoken, are the profane whispers of the world. The whispers that tell us we need to be beautiful, rich, famous, sexy and powerful in order to be loved, significant, accepted and safe. These lies are the whispers that lay the foundation for every other worldly whisper in our heads throughout the day.
In high school or mommy playgroups (or anywhere else in the world for that matter), when we hear that someone has been whispering about us, it is not generally a good thing. Our hearts grow anxious. Who is there to defend us? As we are being mocked by others and the world? The whispers we try to fight turn inward and their destruction of our spirits knows no end.
Whispers of the world are many and cruel and it is so difficult to free ourselves from them. But now let me tell you about the whispers of heaven, the holy whispers that have so much more power than the profane.
Holy whispers are short and sweet and unmistakable. Holy whispers build us up and empower us for the sake of others. Holy whispers are not complicated but they can be surprising and life changing. Holy whispers are catalysts for transformation, the simplest of sentences that anchor us closer to God and raise us up to propel us forward. Holy whispers leave a lasting residue of Love– of being loved and being equipped to love more deeply than ever before. Holy whispers are not once in a lifetime events…they are daily, hourly, occurrences if only we were tuned in to hear.
Someone is whispering about us in heaven, but it is not cause for anxiety because He is whispering glorious things. If only we could live trusting this above all we would beam with the joy of being adored.
How do we hear holy whispers? How can we do better at drowning out the worldly whispers with those from heaven? How do we know who is whispering what? We’ll talk about that in part two. For now, heighten your awareness of what’s going on and what’s entering your heart. Ask God for the ears to hear and the heart to understand the whispers of Heaven, the whispers that build you and those around you up and leave you walking taller than you did before; Whispers that tell you in three words or less just who you really are and what you were made for.
You are loved.
You are needed.
You sparkle.
You shine.
