The Conductor

I have a great advantage in my life; I can recognize God’s voice. It was strange at first because I wasn’t sure what I was hearing. But it was God’s voice all along; I just didn’t know how to recognize it. I do now and it is like falling in love with your best friend after 10 years of dating unqualified candidates. Finally, one day you'll wake up knowing without a single doubt in your mind, that this is the one for you, saying to yourself, “I don’t want to go another day without this person beside me.” Then reflecting back on the last 10 years of your life acknowledging that this person was there the whole time. They were supporting and loving you only wanting the best for you. You were just too blind to see it, or should I say, distracted by all the birds.

Thinking back on the first time I heard God’s voice, I was around 10 or 11 years old. I didn’t know what I heard at the time, it was very clear and it gave me a sense of peace. I had just gotten hit for something small I did by my step-mother, (that happen often) I can’t even remember what it was about or maybe I can’t recall it, because it happen all the time. Whatever the reason, I do remember walking up the stairs and a voice went off in my mind, “you’re going to get a scholarship and get away from here... don’t worry about it."

I stopped crying right away. I remember it so clear, because I didn’t even know what a scholarship was. I was made to feel so inadequate about my reading and writing abilities that I never challenged myself in that area. That day without question I believed what I heard, I grab that thought and put it in my "mental basket." God began to place teaches, coaches, and strangers in my life that saw my gifts. Little pearls of wisdom came at just the right time. From that point on, his voice become clearer, however I didn’t hear it very often, but when it came I recognized it and I listened.

I look back and see how God orchestrated events in my life. God orchestrated my path as the conductor would an orchestra. Just as a conductor of an orchestra must become intimately familiar with all of the musical pieces selected for the upcoming performance season. While an individual musician only rehearse part of a musical score, the conductor of an orchestra must learn the entire score. The conductor of an orchestra functions as a traffic director for the various sections, so he or she must know precisely when each instrument enters the musical highway.

Every event that is happening in my life now and to come, he already knows. I am the musician in the symphony learning my piece. I'm waiting for the right cue, listening to the tempo change and dynamics, and watching each arm movement to indicate the first beat of a measure. I pay attention to each sweep of his arm from right to left to indicate the second, third or possibly fourth beats; from the conductor, God.

We have to learn to be just as attentive to God’s voice, recognizing each movement knowing when to be still and when to move. Making the right decisions based on God’s arm movements. Allow God to harmonize every sound that will create to life long master-piece. Looking back can be a very illuminating experience, as watching a live orchestra can provide interesting clues into the ways that the different sections work with each other. So can looking at God in hindsight.