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Listen while you read: "Bringing In The Sheaves"1
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I know of two people who can tell the day of the week for any date that one may give them. When I first met "Tony", he asked me when my birthday was, and without thinking about it, he told me correctly that it was on a Sunday. I tried other dates that I knew for sure, and he was flawless in his answers.
A calendrical savant — or calendar savant — is someone who has the special skill of being able to name the day of the week that any date lands on.
When my son David began driving buses two years ago, one of his regular riders was "Jennifer". When she first met him, she asked when his birthday was. This fall, he hadn't been driving as much because of a teacher-training course that he was taking. However, he decided to take a shift one day just before Christmas. He hadn't seen Jennifer since the summer, but that day, she got on his bus with her social worker. When she was getting off the bus, she said to him, "Can you remind me what your name is?" David told her, and she immediately replied, "Your birthday is today! You are 40 years old today! Happy birthday!" She then broke out into a full chorus of "Happy birthday to you!" David was ecstatic that she had remembered. Five and ten minutes later, departing passengers each wished him, "Happy birthday!" — a gift that kept on giving! At his birthday party that evening, David was excited to tell us the whole story in detail.
What are the chances that such a person would remember such details and then get on one particular bus, out of a hundred that David could have driven, on the exact day when those details were so significant for a milestone birthday? I'd say that the chances are so remote that the simplest explanation is the existence of a loving God with a great sense of humour, Who is just waiting to bless us with random acts of kindness on occasion!
People who are neurodivergent have different strengths and challenges than those whose brains don't have those differences. Such people are often not valued highly. But God is able to use all of us to fulfil His purposes on earth, such as encouraging my son with a minor miracle. Regardless of our skills and abilities, God loves us all equally.
Does the love of God seem real in your life?
1 John 4:9-11 – This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (NIV)
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for showing Your love for us through our Lord Jesus. Help us to experience that love in its fullest measure. Amen.
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About the author:
Robin Ross <rross@telus.net>
Mission, British Columbia, Canada
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This is my fifth comment on Calendar Savants
This is now my fourth comment on an old devotional of mine.
This is a third comment on my own devotional.
Amen, Robin. Happy New Year.
God’s love for us and our love for others is key to happiness in 2024.
Thanks so much for that wonderful story! We do have a God of miracles!
Happy new year.
Keep up the good work.
Great story! Great start to the day! Feel strengthened, although struggling with the first cold I’ve had since Covid!
Bless you, Robin!
Amazing ability! Thanks for sharing an encouraging reminder concerning the amazing love of God.
Blessings.
Dear Robin:
What a neat story and a wonderful example of God’s love for us. Thanks for sharing.
New Year blessings to you and yours.
Fascinating. I read a book years ago which suggested that God has a strong sense of humor. Lots of Biblical examples. I’ve no reason to believe otherwise.
Blessing.
Thanks, Robin, for your devotional this morning and reminding us that there are many special people in our world that God has blessed with gifts unknown to the rest of us. What an amazing God we serve!
Dear Robin,
Thank you for sharing your message today. I am so grateful that God is able to use all of us to fulfil His purposes here on earth.
Blessings!
Thank you for sharing. My special person is Pearl, a wonderful black lady who goes to my church. She can’t read or write but her simple prayers bless me every time she raises her voice to the Lord in simple words of praise for her Savior. A miracle? Every bit a miracle. Thanks again for your dedication to PresbyCan ministry!
Good morning, Robin,
Yes, it is truly amazing how only God can do such things! How exciting that was for your son, of all days, and of all buses!
We serve an amazing and loving God. Thank you for sharing and stirring up our spiritual senses as we remember nothing is impossible with God!
God bless.
Thank you, Robin, for this interesting devotional today. I can’t say that I have ever encountered the word “Savants” before. There surely are people in our world that have remarkable memories and it is a pleasure whenever someone does remember a special day of ours and connects with us. We need be especially grateful that our loving Lord is ever there to remember each of us and serve us abundantly. Blessings for your writings and a New Year of pleasant events.
Thank you, Robin. My sister has three “handicapped” adult daughters who are skilled beyond what anyone expects. Yesterday, she and I were trying to think of the name of the place in South Dakota with the presidents’ heads. The oldest girl immediately piped up, Mt. Rushmore. Every day, they amaze us with what they know and remember. And they are positive that God loves them, confident in ways most normal people are not.
Good morning, Robin,
What a wonderful gift from God for your son and for you and all the people on the bus that day. Yes, I do believe that God shows His love to us in many small ways if we are open and willing to feel and see it.
On the television we saw this show where people could recall exactly what they did on any day. It was so fascinating. They had about 6 people and could check what they said. I had no idea how different our brains operate and how much information they can store and be retrieved.
When people share their experiences, it helps others to reflect on their own faith and mature. I believe that when we feel God’s love, we are inspired to share it with others. The world definitely needs all the love and kindness we can show people we know and people we don’t know. Thanks for sharing this uplifting event in your son’s life.
Hello Robin,
I truly enjoyed and was touched by your great devotional!
My grandson is a Calendar Savant. It was discovered before he started school. They tested him then up to the year 2032, but he said he was bored, so the test stopped. Apparently, the savants use algorithms!
He is also bit of a mathematician. He entered an international math contest when he was younger and was named in the top three as a winner. They didn’t reveal the order of placement, but he and one parent were invited for an all-expenses paid trip to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington for the presentation, but Covid intervened, so he just got a nicely framed certificate. He is now in the International Baccalaureate in Ottawa. He is a delightful young man who also won the kindness award for his school.
Again, thank you for your wonderful devotional!
Good morning, Robin,
I just read your timely devotional and memories from over 30 years ago came back to me. As part of our ministry I was visiting a Mental Hospital in another province and was approached by a young woman who asked me one question – When were you born and what is your name? I told her and she told me that I was born on a Saturday – which was correct. Since my wife’s sister worked at that same hospital several years before that I asked if she knew her birthdate. Without any hesitation she responded with the exact date. This young woman did not carry on any conversation except to ask other people when they were born and their name.
You are so correct in saying that God uses all of us for His purposes. Thank God He does!
Thank you for the reminder.
Reverend Sir:
Thank you for the piece appearing in today’s “PresbyCan Daily Devotional”. Good teaching, sir! And by the way, “neurodivergent” is a word I can usefully add to my vocabulary!
Still further by the way, you remind me of other sorts of divergence I’ve come to appreciate preliminarily – though I’ll never (this side of Jordan) be able to understand much about them. Those are genetic divergences. One of them with which I’ve become a little bit acquainted is that which occasions Down Syndrome – in its various manifestations.
With hope that you’re enjoying Christmas, and will have a happy Hogmanay –
(Ontario)
Thank you, Robin, for sharing this encouraging devotional with us! To God be the glory! Blessings.