This area is for me to spout off my opinions or whatever is on my mind. These opinions could be anything from how beautiful the day is to how screwed up this world is. Please be advised that these are MY opinions - they are not necessarily based on facts (although I try to be educated on the subjects I rant about) and whether you agree with me or not is of no importance to me. If you absolutely feel a need to try to change my mind or give me your opinion, my email link is on the homepage. Be aware though I may or may not answer you. It depends on how intelligently you state your opinion. This is just a venue for me to vent my feelings on different subjects.

WHISPERS OF THE HEART

My niece, Shannon Alexandria Martin, is now 12 years old. She has been a joy to our family since the day she was born. She is beautiful, smart, imaginative and spiritual. My family is Methodist and Shannon has attended church all her life. Our religion believes you are born, live, die and then go to either Heaven or Hell. It is not a religion that believes in existence before birth.

I have always been a little different from my family. I am a Christian and believe in the basics of our religion (See the Christianity area of MY INTERESTS), however I also believe that there are many mysteries to our faith. Technically, I am a member of the Methodist church but I hold beliefs that the church does not. One of those beliefs is that our souls are eternal and they exist before our birth. This is not a belief I ever discussed with my niece.

For one, I believed her to be too young to discuss the more abstract theories of religion and spirituality. Secondly, I believe it is not my place to interfere with the spirituality and religion her parents are teaching her. They are very devout and maintain a loving, Christian household. I do not believe they would appreciate my infusing their daughter with some of my "radical" beliefs.

That being said, I will now get to the point of this Musing. Shannon stays the night with me often. Once when she was only 4-1/2 and she stayed with me I needed to go to the store for milk and she rode with me. My birthday was the following week so we were talking about birthdays. She was telling me who all she was going to invite to her birthday party next April. I am going to give you the next part of our conversation verbatim:

Shannon: "You we born a long time ago, Aunt Mamby**" (Aunt Mamby is her special name for me)

Mandy: "Yes that is right."

Shannon: "My Daddy was born a long time ago, too."

Mandy: "Yes, m'am, he was."

Shannon: "Yes, I know that Aunt Mamby, I was in Heaven with God waiting for Daddy to grow up so I could come down and be part of the family."

(this really got my attention - I was incredulous)

Mandy: "Shannon, who told you that? Did someone teach that to you?"

Shannon: "No, Aunt Mamby, my heart whispered it to me."

Mandy: "Your heart?"

Shannon: "Yes, you have to listen carefully because it is very quiet when it speaks to you."

I was absolutely speechless. I got chill bumps all over and my heart just swelled with love for this precious little girl. I guess that was my heart telling me to listen to her. To me it was an affirmation of my beliefs. I was amazed, too, that something so profound fell from the lips of a 4-year old.

When we got home, I called her mother and told her what Shannon had said. I asked her if that was something they had talked about with or in front of Shannon. She said no. But she too, was as amazed as I.

Shannon makes many wise statements far beyond her years. Most of the time, she is a typical child but sometimes she had tremendous insight to things most children her age are completely unaware. When Shannon was 10 she went to her mother and said she wanted to get her hair cut. Her hair was down to the middle of her back and a gorgeous blonde color. She wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love which provides wigs for people who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy treatments. She came up with this idea on her own. I don't know many 10 year olds who are that thoughtful and selfless.

All I know is how thankful and joyful I am that she is in my life and part of my family. She is my best friend and I am hers. I look forward to the time when she is older and we can have theological discussions. I plan to encourage her to listen to the whispers of her heart. How wonderful it will be to talk to someone who remembers being with God.

** When Shannon was learning to talk she could not say "Mandy", it always came out "Mamby". So now I am "Aunt Mamby". Even though she can now say name correctly I am still "Aunt Mamby". I like her calling me that - it is my special name from my special girl.

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