My Mum was a Head teacher In Kent. I was privileged to work under her for a while when one of her staff was taken ill. It made me very proud to see all that she achieved firsthand in the lives of the children, staff and parents.

In her last week before retirement, due to a misunderstanding, she was given only a few minutes notice that she was leading an assembly. As the children filed in, she realised she had absolutely no idea what she was going to say! But surprisingly, panic did not set in. Instead the words of Luke 12:12 came to her:

“Do not worry about what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you…”

The subject of the Assembly was “Jesus died and rose again”. Mum was saying over and over to herself, “Lord this is the most important message that the people in this room will ever hear. Please help me to reach them.”

She began to speak, without really knowing what she was going to say, fervently praying. What came out of her mouth was very simple but, I think, highly profound. She began by telling the children that she had inherited blue eyes from her Dad and dark hair from her Mum. She went on to explain how each of us takes after our parents in different ways. She told the children that Jesus inherited his humanity from his Mum. He got his need of food, clothes, sleep and friendship from her. But from his Dad, he got something else. From his real Dad (not his stepfather, Joseph) Jesus inherited the ability to love without measure, know and meet people’s needs, offer forgiveness, healing and mercy. But the most important thing He was given by His Father was the ability to beat death and come back to life again. A unique person – no-one else on earth has ever had such a combination of the human and the divine. As she finished speaking, Mum realised that she had never thought of this before.

At the end of the assembly a Governor who has not always had an easy relationship with Mum came over to her in tears, thanking her for what she had said.

Maybe today you feel unprepared for a meeting, or have no idea how you will answer a difficult email. Perhaps you feel that it is a while since you relied fully on the Holy Spirit to teach you what to say. Pray now that God would give you something memorable to say as you speak. You never know what impact your words may have – even on yourself!