The Quiet Ones

During a recent discussion a woman I know said something so profound, so insightful about the Lord Jesus that I’ve been feeding off it now for several days. When I later told her how her words had stayed with me, she seemed genuinely surprised.

“No one ever listens to me,” she said.

That, too, gave me reason to pause.

No one listens to her. I can’t understand how that can be true, but she said it, and so it must be.

This is not the first time the Lord Jesus taught me the same lesson that He again taught me when she said no one listens to her. And in my more reflective moments I realize how much better my life with Christ would probably be if I paid less attention to ‘Type A’ personalities – at church, in the classroom, or at the office – and much closer attention to the quiet ones God places all around me.

Especially at home.

What was it the Holy Spirit tells us though St. Paul? “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:26-28)

No, this woman’s name does not matter. You already know her. And you already know him. You see them every day. They’re the quiet ones, the invisible ones, the ones to whom few pay attention. Oh, if only the Lord would quiet our hearts and open our ears to what He would teach us through them.

And if only we would listen.