Bubble Gum Machine
Little One,
Let’s talk about Bobbie.
Okay, what about her?
Tonight as you began to read, you looked up and she made a motion. What did she do?
She pretended there was a microphone in her hand and she moved it from in front of her mouth to her chin.
What did that mean?
She is hard of hearing so she reads lips. I was holding the microphone directly in front of my mouth so she was unable to read my lips. She hears the sounds but without seeing my mouth move, she isn’t always sure what I’m saying.
When you hug her and say something, what does she do?
She holds my hips, moves me away from her, looks at my lips and says, “Say that again.”
Does she act bothered by her challenges with hearing?
No, she adapts.
How about Mandy? Tell me what you recently discovered about Mandy.
Well, she’s told me many times before but I never really understood until a couple weeks ago. She’s dyslexic so she can’t read print. She comes faithfully to Bible study but can’t read any of my handouts.
What made you understand?
I wrote the word dog on the whiteboard and asked her what it said. She said, “No clue.” Then I wrote it in cursive and she said, “Dog.”
I wrote Cathy in print and she said, “Nope.” I wrote it in cursive and she said, “Grams,” and pointed to my mom. She calls my mom “Grams” for grandma. Her name is Cathy.
I wrote “elephant” in print and she ran her hand across her neck to signal, “I’ve got nothing.” I wrote it in cursive and she confidently called out, “ELEPHANT!”
I was shocked! What a simple adaptation and she goes from not being able to read “dog” to being able to read “elephant.”
I’m gonna reprint all the handouts using a computer font of cursive that connects all the letters so she can read them.
What about Kate? You asked her tonight if she enjoyed Bible study. What did she say?
She said, “Yeah, it’s cool.” Then she said, “To be honest, it’s hard to focus. You use big words and it’s hard to follow so I’m not entirely sure what it all means.”
What do you think the problem is?
It’s week five. It was her first week. Many of the concepts we are talking about I go through quickly because the rest of the room has been with me four other weeks. I hit on the material I’ve already covered quickly and keep moving. Tonight, I think Barb felt the same way. It’s only her second week, and I didn’t explain the worksheet very well.
What has your mom shared about her struggle?
She said I give a lot of information quickly and it doesn’t give her brain time to process one thought completely before moving on to the next concept so sometimes her brain gets overwhelmed and can’t keep up. She said, “I bet I’m not the only one who feels that way.”
Yadamma. What about Yadamma?
She is Indian and doesn’t speak English at all. She comes with her daughter and she just listens and smiles. She has no clue what I’m saying and I tried a translator app but she couldn’t read it. Her daughter says she’ll tell her about it later.
I wish I could speak so she could understand but that’s impossible. So every once in a while, I just catch her attention and smile.
Little One, that smile is important. It conveys LOVE.
It’s important to know where people are at and what challenges they have in receiving the material you are presenting. If you’re not careful, you can have half a room of people without a clue what you’re talking about.
I understand why classrooms need aids to help with students who have challenges. If I were to only use cursive many of the women would struggle to read. If I had the microphone loud enough for Bobbie to hear, others couldn’t tolerate the sound. If I slowed down enough for my mom, others might be bored. If I retaught everything for Kate, the rest of the group might feel like the evening was unfruitful.
And Yadamma, sweet Yadamma. If I were able to teach her in her native language, no one else would understand.
Are you ready to pivot? Can you see yet that we are not just talking about the women in your Bible study? We are talking about My children.
Many of My children come to Me with challenges in receiving what I am trying to teach them but are never willing to let the teacher know they are not getting it. They attend church YEAR after YEAR, smiling at the pastor, greeting people in the lobby, and walking away from services having received the equivalent of what Yadamma receives each week: a warm smile and a sense that you are kind.
There is a reason we offer Holy Spirit to all of Our children. From your spirit, He is able to amplify the words so the hard of hearing can hear, convert print to cursive for those who struggle with dyslexia, allow your mind to pull the important parts out of the message even when there’s a lot. Holy Spirit can impress one life-changing thought on a heart that can’t focus on another thing you say. And Yadamma… you have no idea what I’m doing in her mind and heart as she sits not understanding a word you say.
The key is: they must ask.
Holy Spirit is a gentleman as you know. He doesn’t go ANYWHERE uninvited and He doesn’t work on blanket, one-time invitations. Every time you want to receive, you must ask.
You can sit and look at a gum ball machine all day long but if you don’t put a quarter in you’ll never chew on a piece of gum. You can even turn the knob all day long and you’ll never get a piece of gum. It is not a hard concept to understand that if you want a piece of gum, you must put a quarter in the slot, turn the knob, and THEN you’ll get a gum ball.
Tell Me how long gum balls taste good.
Just a few minutes.
Then what happens?
It seems like the gum gets harder to chew and there is no more flavor. It actually hurts my jaw if I chew it too long.
Every time you approach Me, think of this gum ball machine. The quarter is a metaphor. Each quarter represents asking for My help.
Don’t turn this into a lesson about buying My assistance - you can’t. You couldn’t afford it. It cost Me My Son and He already paid the price. This is one of those often unopened gifts on the shelf.
Every time you open your Bible to read, put a quarter in, ask Me to read with you. Every time you pull up to the church for a service, put a quarter in, ask Me to listen with you. When you do, you’ll hear MORE than what the pastor has to say.
Encourage the women coming to your Bible study to put a quarter in on the drive to the church each week, asking Me to attend with them. I have something special for EACH of them, each and every week.
Encourage them to put a quarter in before their feet hit the floor each morning inviting My participation in their day.
This conversation is making my jaw hurt just thinking about chewing all that gum!
When you read the Word, attend church or Bible study, and you approach it from your soul, you try to reason it out with your natural mind and emotions, you’ll wrestle, and it will be challenging. But when you invite Me, I will reveal things to you that will set your heart on fire! You will understand things like you never understood them before. You will see things and wonder how you never saw that before. My Word comes alive when I’m invited to bring it to life!
All you have to do is ask.
All THEY have to do is ask.
Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.”
Yes, that’s it. Easy. What I ask of you is simple. Just invite Me.
Love you, Little One.
Love you, too!
Daddy
Psalm 119:18
