Not long ago I wanted to call a lady that I knew…but not too well. I didn’t have her phone number, but I knew her husband’s first name so I figured I could find it in the book.
A search revealed two men by that name. I knew my acquaintance’s in-laws lived in the same town, so one number was probably her house and the other her husband’s parents. This shouldn’t be too hard. If I called the wrong one it would still be some of her family, right? And they would let me know that the other number was the correct one. It was the process of elimination with extra help; this seemed like a win-win situation to me.
I chose one of the numbers and punched it in. I waited. The ring was answered by an obviously young child. Very young. I’d say three years old, or maybe even two.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” I began, hoping for the best. “May I speak to Carolyn please?”
The small voice that couldn’t pronounce its “r’s” sounded helpful. “She’s not hewe.”
I knew Carolyn had grandchildren, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what she’d told me their ages were. This raised another possibility. This number might belong not to Carolyn or her in-laws, but to her son and his family. Did she even have a son? I couldn’t recall.
At first I thought this must be her house and the grandkids were visiting. No, wait. It must be the grandchildren’s house and Carolyn wasn’t visiting. Or it could still be the in-laws’ number and the great-grandchildren had come over to play. Oh, dear. I opted for one more query.
“Does Carolyn live there?”
Have you ever talked to a toddler on the phone? It had been a while for me, and I’d forgotten how heavily they breathe into the receiver. I waited for probably a full minute or more as my miniature Darth Vader adjusted the controls on her iron lung and pondered the question. At last came her near-whispered response.
“I don’t know.”
Give the tyke points for being honest. What amused me was how long it took her to come up with her answer, given what it turned out to be. It made me wonder what would happen if any number of people were asked of my life, “Does the Holy Spirit live there?” Would they respond quickly, or would they have to think on it for a while? And even after deliberating would they finally shrug and admit, “I don’t know”?
Christ came to be Emmanuel–God with us. May His light and life shine in our hearts so that the world may know. Merry Christmas.
