Let’s Have a “Talt”

 

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.”

Revelation 3:20

For years I have worked with young people who wear the label “special needs.” I get that as a description I suppose but sometimes I think a more accurate label would be special gifts. So many of them see the world in a way that we not so special people miss. Through the years I’ve heard people say with varying degrees of sincerity that they learn more than they teach when they’re with the children. I can say that with a great degree of sincerity because God has used so many of my little angels to illustrate his love and patience to me.

My dear friend Brianna has Down syndrome. She is a delight in ways that words cannot express. One of my favorite things about her, and in general, is when she says to me, “Let’s have a talt.” Now, let me note here that I am quick to make her stop and repeat the word talk correctly because I want other people to understand her as well as I do but I love “talt.”

We sit down for these talks, in a spot designated by Bri and they begin. There are three topics of conversation, food, her buddies or our “dates.” (Whenever we make plans they are referred to as dates.) The talks are all along the same lines so once the topic is established I know what she’s going to say. Boring, right? Wrong! It’s fabulous. I could listen to her description of her cheeseburger and dippin’ sauce or how much she loves her buddies a billion times and it will never get old. Yes, I know what she’s going to say but I love sitting with her and hearing her say it. It isn’t about the conversation. It’s about Bri, about sitting together and about listening to her heart. Those talks are great fun because I love her.

On the other side of the coin, when Brianna is with me and neither of her parents are there, I’m her comfort. When she’s hurt or frightened, it’s my lap, my arms and my words that she wants. Those times are few and far between thankfully, but they’ve taught me the same lesson as the much more prevalent, much more enjoyable “talts.”  Whatever the tone, happy or sad, it’s about relationship, not information. God wants us to talk with him. Yes, he knows what we’re going to say and if you are anything like me, he’s heard it too many times to count. Beyond that he knew what we were going to say before our first talk with him. Sometimes I tend to think that means he doesn’t need to hear it. He doesn’t need to but because of his amazing love for us, he wants to hear it, hear everything on our hearts.

Like me with Brianna, he wants us to talk to him about our mundane details, our food, our buddies, our dates and he wants us to feel comfortable enough to run to him with our problems, real and imagined.

I am so grateful to have a Father who cares for me in ways that are so far beyond my comprehension. I am also grateful that he shows me, through my love for others, tiny in comparison to his love for us, how much he enjoys the time we spend together.

This is the God of the universe we’re talking about. Brianna comes to me, a person with no title, no standing, no inherent expectation of respect, as if I were the most important person in the world. I go to God, truly the most important being to ever exist and the good news is that I not only can but that he wants me to and with an even higher expectation of acceptance and love than Brianna gets from me.

There are times when circumstances may force me to postpone or shorten a talk with Brianna but God always has time for us. My love for Brianna may fail. I may disappoint her, I hope not but it could happen. God will never disappoint me, Brianna or you. Go to him, have a “talt.” I know he’ll love it.