What in the world do cell phones have to do with personal revelation?
Everything!
Let me tell you why.
A RUINED EFY LESSON THAT TAUGHT ME EVERYTHING
A few years ago I was teaching at an EFY session in Logan, Utah. The lessons for this session took place inside an Institute building and I happened to be assigned to teach in the chapel of the institute.
This was helpful because it made the kids a bit more reverent than they normally would be (EFY kids can get a little stir crazy).
I was in the middle of a more-reverent-than-normal class when all of a sudden from the back of the room came a loud, somewhat robotic voice that went:
BEEEEP, “A hot babe is trying to call you.”
BEEEEP, “A hot babe is trying to call you.”
BEEEEP, “A hot babe is trying to call you.”
The entire class, filled with hundreds of teenagers turned to look as one of the adult leaders jumped out of his seat, his face bright red, grabbed his cell phone and ran out of the room.
As the doors of the chapel closed behind him the room erupted in laughter.
Each of us knew exactly who the hot babe that was trying to call him was: his wife. What an awesome ringtone to let you know your wife is on the other end of the line!!
And to be honest, I can’t remember what happened in the class after that, because that exact moment was such a powerful teaching lesson to me.
Here’s what I realized.
YOU'VE GOT A SPIRIT RINGTONE
When the hundreds of people in that chapel heard, “BEEEEP, ‘A hot babe is trying to call you.’” only one person jumped up and ran out of the room.
Why?
Because it was HIS personal ringtone for his wife.
No one else grabbed their phone and hurriedly tried to mute it because it wasn’t a ringtone they recognized.
But this one brother did. He KNEW that ringtone because it was his.
Well the same thing goes for us with the Spirit.
Each of us has a specific ringtone– our own personal way that we hear and feel the Spirit– that is totally different from everyone else’s.
I had grown up hearing about feeling a burning in the bosom and mistakenly thought I had never felt the Spirit because my heart never burned.
Though I had gotten past that as an adult and realized that I felt the Spirit differently, this experience showed me just how differently the Spirit speaks to each of us.
LEARNING TO #HEARHIM ALL THE TIME
Since that day I have spent hour after hour after hour listening and watching for my personal Spirit ringtone.
Over time I became aware of new ways in which the Spirit spoke to me that I had before ignored: sudden thoughts in the middle of prayers, repeated ideas as I listened to sacrament talks, nudges to read specific scriptures . . .
It was as if I suddenly woke up to the dozens of ways the Spirit had been speaking to me because now I knew it could be different from everyone else. It didn’t have to fit any specific mold– I could have my own unique ringtone for the Spirit.
And so can you!
Start listening today to see if you can discover your own spirit ringtone.
And if you enjoyed this quick tip I would love for you to share it with others and help me spread the word that the gospel is powerful in its simplicity, we just have to keep it that way.
