The Whisper Test

The Whisper Test

To all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

John 1:12

One of the most inspirational stories we have ever read comes from Mary Ann Bird’s “The Whisper Test.” It’s the story of a little girl who was hated for her differences and one day was given the gift of unmerited acceptance.

Mary Ann was born with a cleft palate, and when she started school her classmates made it clear to her how she looked: “a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.”

She was convinced that no one outside her family could love her. When her classmates asked, “What happened to your lip?” she would say that she had fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. It seemed more acceptable, she admits, to have suffered an accident than to have been born that way. An accident might befall anyone, so there was some equalizing power in the story.

Still, school was a difficult place for Mary Ann because she felt so different. There was, however, a caring teacher in the second grade whom all the students adored. Mrs. Leonard was short, round, and happy, “a sparkling lady.” She was to administer the annual hearing test to Mary Ann’s class that year. Mary Ann knew the drill: one by one each student would stand against the classroom door and cover one ear, waiting for the teacher to whisper something into the other ear. The student was to repeat it back just as he or she heard it. Mary Ann knew to expect “things like ‘the sky is blue’ or ‘Do you have new shoes?’”

Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was Mary Ann’s turn. She waited, and these were the words she heard Mrs. Leonard whisper: “I wish you were my little girl.”

Mary Ann writes about what a difference these words of acceptance made in her life, empowering her to be her own person, regardless of the criticism she felt from the other children and the shame she felt over her physical challenges.

We are all “spiritually challenged” by our sins, yet our God whispers the same thing to us: “Remain in my love” (John 15:9).

As you revel in God’s love for you, allow it to shape your own expressions of love for your spouse. You have a powerful opportunity to make a difference in the life of your own husband or wife by remaining in God’s love and creating a space for your spouse to do the same.

God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.

—St. Augustine