"Turn on the light."
The whisper I heard was not a physical voice, but a gentle whisper in my heart.
"There is no reason to turn on the light," I replied to The Whisper. "I know my way."
I was 20 years old and at the bottom of a flight of stairs I knew well. It was dark.
I felt the voice again.
"Turn on the light."
I was stubborn and proud.
"It's a short flight of stairs. I've climbed them a million times. I'm not turning on the light."
The whisper returned to me a third time.
"Turn on the light."
"NO!"
I bounded up the stairs in my bare feet. I took the steps two at a time putting all my weight on each bare foot as it hit the ground beneath.
Then it happpened.
I came to the middle of the staircase and felt the soft fur of a small animal beneath my left foot. I felt the weight of my entire body crush it's tiny bones.
I screamed and somehow made it to the top. I flipped on the light and saw a small, white mouse running around in frantic circles. Then it fell over.
I had killed it with my bare foot.
I could not stop screaming.
I ran to the closest sink and tried to scrub the feeling from off my foot but couldn't. I kept hearing the crushing of it's itty bitty mouse bones and feeling the softness of it's fur. I kept seeing it fall over dead after moments of extreme shock.
One of my favorite authors once said, if you don't listen to the whispers they will become screams. And the screams will be your own.
I didn't heed the whispers in The Case of The Stair Mouse. When I ignored them all I could hear was the sound of my own screams.
There have been lots of times in my life when I've not obeyed the promptings of The Spirit. I always end up screaming and hurting the innocent.
Tonight I sat at the top of a flight of stairs in the dark and I happened to see a little, white mouse scamper below. This memory came flooding back.
How many of us would go back and heed the warning whispers in our hearts if we could?
Not one of us knows the Pain and Suffering that lurks just ahead in the darkness, do we?
We often think we are very wise when, in fact, we are foolish babies in Eternity. This life is a blip on the radar. We are floundering in the dark at the bottom of an ominous flight of stairs.
The happy news is as long as we are alive we have A CHANCE TO CHANGE. We can make things right for ourselves and those around us.
An old woman who was an abusive mother can make amends to her child at the age of 85.
A young man who sniffs his powder white paycheck up his nose can become rehabilitated and cleansed.
A young mother who leaves her children can return home.
A damaged marriage can be healed.
A self-righteous, chest pounding church-goer can become humble and meek and Love.
This is a life of HOPE.
None of us will escape it unscathed. We will ALL make decisions that will hurt ourselves and others. There was only one perfect Man that walked this Earth and you are not He.
I know I am Proud and Vain and Selfish. I know I am not worthy of all the blessings I enjoy.
But I am learning to obey The Whisper. I am learning to turn on The Light.
