All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each individually just as the Spirit chooses. - 1 Corinthians 12:11

Alison has been attending my meeting for the last 5 years. An elderly woman, she moved to Seattle to live near her sons and their families. I agreed to drive her to meeting on First Day.

At our first meeting, is was clear that she suffered from expressive aphasia. Over the years she has developed progressive dementia. Speech is difficult and rarely coherent. She needs to be monitored to prevent wandering and mildly intrusive behaviors.

This morning, instead of dozing through meeting, she spoke. Three hesitant but utterly clear sentences that were plainly a message. My paraphrase is rough as I felt more than heard the message- "I want to speak about what we do here, in this circle. In this circle we listen for what we need to do. Then we need to do it and do it again."

How many times do I underestimate the Spirit's ability to work through those the weakest and least articulate?

Do I listen for God's message in ALL those around me?