When I called today to check on Sybil, Lynda said Sybil's husband reported yesterday that his wife had said “Hi” to her therapist.

Such a little word and, and only one at that, but all those who love her rejoiced. It will be a long row to hoe, but Sybil is alive and on her way to being well again. I understand she soon will be moved from the Tallahassee hospital to Piedmont Hospital or the Shepherd Center in Atlanta.

After responding to the little voice inside her heart that insisted she check on Sybil and get medical help for her, Lynda is looking at her gift/s in a whole new light.

For those of you who have not been following this column in recent weeks: Sybil (from Henry County) was on a business trip to Bainbridge. She did not show up for an 8 a.m. meeting at Lynda's office. My sister reasoned that it was probably an allergy thing, that Sybil probably had taken something for allergy and just overslept.

Reason soon got tossed out the window, because Lynda's little voice kept telling her something was seriously wrong. Lynda insisted that the hotel attendant let her into Sybil's room where she found her coworker seriously ill and took her to the hospital. Sybil had developed a leaking aneurysm during the night and her life was hanging in the balance.

When I spoke with Lynda this morning, my sister said, “God has already given us so much. Lent is a time to ask ourselves what we have done with these gifts...” She was reading from a morning devotional book. She said the supporting scripture was Matthew 21:33-43.

I checked it out. It is the parable of the land owner. It is potent. Read it. And while you do, remember the words my sister tossed my way this morning: “God has already given us so much. Lent is a time to ask ourselves what we have done with these gifts...”

She is struggling still with her gift. We both have struggled with it all our lives. I like to think we have more than one spiritual gift and I hope we use them wisely. But there is this one that we have always questioned. Seems we got tossed something a little stronger than your basic intuition. When the little voice inside our hearts says “do” or “don't, “go” or “stay,” “act” or “don't act,” we have learned that we darn well better listen.

I blew it again, just recently. I called a friend about ten days ago. She could not talk as she was heading out the door for a tennis match. Instantly, I wanted to tell her not to go. Of course, I did not — it would have sounded like I wanted her to stay and talk to me instead of going to play tennis. I bit my tongue. She tore her Achilles tendon on the court and spent the next day in surgery. Now, she is confined to her bedroom for a spell.

Did I know what was going to happen? No, I just knew I should tell her not to go. This friend does not know me well enough to have listened to any word of caution I might have tossed her way. My sons, on the other hand, who have seen my warnings play out again and again, now listen. It's about time!

The truth is it's hard to speak up when you have nothing to support what you are saying. I mean, if you are about to warn someone of what might or will happen if they do or do not do a thing, and if they listen to you and follow any suggestions you offer, then nobody ever knows what might have happened if they had not followed your suggestions. See what I mean?

It takes courage to speak up. I do not know what to call this gift. I only know that I am learning to listen to my little voice even when all reason, all the facts, and all well-intended advice does not agree with that voice. Should I be stroked and told how courageous I am for doing so? Hardly. Only I know how many times I have ever so cowardly backed away from using my “gift.”

The truth is I act on it now more than I used to in order to avoid feeling bad later for not acting after events unfold that could have been avoided if I had acted. Read Matthew 21:33-43 sometime soon and consider anew what gifts you have and how you are using them.

If you don't know what your gifts are, read Romans 12:6 and the 12th chapter of I Corinthians. And as you read, be ready to be reminded how much we all need one another. Any time we fail to be all we can be, and use the gifts wisely that we have been given, others suffer, and we do too.

Does God love us any less? No, but in the end we may love ourselves a bit less if we refuse to be all we can be and use wisely the gifts we have been given.

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