There was a fly in my office the other day. Oh, I didn’t see it, but I heard it somewhere off to my left. At first, I really didn’t notice it. But after a while, it was unmistakeable – Bzzzzzz. You know the sound. It droned for about a minute, then it was quiet. Honestly,  I dismissed it – “it’s just a stupid fly.”  Then, Bzzzzzz. “There it is again.” More quiet. More minutes passed. After a few rounds of this I found myself struggling to focus on work. Buzz, then quiet; buzz then quiet. As the cycle repeated over and over, I found  myself almost holding my breath, waiting, anticipating the next buzz.

There it is! He has to be somewhere by the window. I discreetly rolled my office chair in that direction – well, as discreetly as a 240 pound man on a squeaky office chair can manage. One foot… one and a half… two feet closer to the sound I rolled. And then… silence. Dang it! I spooked him! “Maybe I should throw caution to the wind and just get up and go find him.”

I decided that this was just so much silliness and turned my chair back to my desk. I started working but I couldn’t seem to focus on anything. My mind wandered to the window and my eyes soon followed. “How long has it been since I last heard the sound of the Phantom Fly”? I looked at my watch and discovered that I’d been preoccupied with this for the better part of an hour! An hour! Just listening for the sound of a fly!!

Now if you’ve been following my blog you know I have a tendency to look for the spiritual application of things – after all, the whole message of the blog is about the unusual ways God leads us. Today is no different. I paused this morning and asked God “what can I learn from my encounter with the Phantom Fly?”

The answer came very quickly. The buzz of that fly was in many ways like the whisper of the Holy Spirit. We often find ourselves going about our business, be it work, family, play, or even church; and suddenly we hear something. Not with our natural ears, mind you, no. This something is coming from somewhere else. Often it’s fleeting – just a hint or sense that we’re being touched.

Very often we do exactly what I did when I first heard the buzz of the fly: we dismiss it. Sometimes, though, we pause and listen. Please understand – I’m not asking you to think of the Holy Spirit as you would a fly! The latter is a pest while the former is the third Person of the Trinity! I am, however, asking you to think about your response to the Spirit, because He often comes to us gently and quietly, almost inaudible if we’re not paying attention. 

Sometimes His prompting is nothing more than an impression: “I should call so-and-so” or “Hmmm. Think I’ll pray for that person I haven’t talked to in six months.” Sometimes we see something or hear a piece of music, and then it comes like a whisper: “DO this…” or “GO there…” and when we follow that lead, we discover that it was exactly what was needed, exactly when it was needed. I can recount many times over the last year when I’ve suddenly felt an urge to pray for someone, only to find out later that in the moment I was praying there was some urgent need in their life. Or I’ve obeyed the nebulous feeling that I should go visit, and that visit was exactly what the person was hoping for. 

How about you? Have you ever experienced a moment like the one I described today? Please do two things: first, obey it. It’s probably the voice of the Spirit, and someone needs you. Second, tell me about it. I’d love to read about what happened in the comments!

Until the next turn,

Gordon