Small and Wonderful Things . . .

 

 

 

"The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But who gets excited by a mere penny?...It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted with pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. what you see is what you get." ~Anne Dillard 

 
A few of the small and wonderful things which bring untold joy into my life.   It's the small things in life which truly mean the most.  Simple abundance . . . it's the best. 

Today I wanted to tell you a bit of a story.  I will change the names of the people involved, but this is a real story about real people and I tell it to illustrate how very wonderful our Heavenly Father is and how His eye is truly on the Sparrow, and how very much He is involved in the small details of our lives.

 

As you all know, a few years ago Todd and I were able to serve a mission together for our church, right here from our home in Chester. At that time we were helping the other missionaries with a family here where we live which I will call the Smith family.  They were, and are a lovely little family of a mom (lets call her Mary), a dad (we'll call him John) and their daughter (we'll call her Ruth.)   Ruth has managed to stay fully active in the church and met her husband through it a year or two back. They were married this past summer and sealed together in the Preston Temple.  Sadly Mary and John had stopped coming, although they have always been very friendly and had not lost their testimonies.  I have felt really sad about this, like perhaps in some way we had let them down. 

On Friday Todd and I went to the Gordales nursery because I wanted to restock my greeting card collection. I always like to keep some on hand, just in case. You never know when you are going to need one.  To get to Gordales (they have the BEST cards!) we have to drive right past Mary and John's house.  I said to Todd, I am going to do their Christmas Card and we can drop it through their letter box on the way back home. He thought that sounded like a good plan. Anything to save a stamp, lol.

So on the way back home, we pulled in front of their house and I went to get out of the car. I could clearly see John sitting on the sofa in the lounge and I said to Todd, John is at home, shall we knock on the door and just say hello.  It seemed a shame to be there and see him and not say hello. So that is what we did. Mary was there too.  John invited us in and we had a lovely visit. Just prior to our leaving to come home,  Todd told him how much we missed them and was prompted to ask John why he had stopped coming to church. (I flinched inside because well, just because.)  John was very upfront and said because someone had said something about his daughter once that upset him and he didn't trust himself to be there without saying something in retaliation. 

What followed was a very sincere discussion where I shared how I felt in my heart about these things, and how often others can and will say things that hurt us, but again how we shouldn't let them get to us and recognise that people are only people and will often say, do  and act in ways that hurt and disappoint us.  I told him that this Sunday we were having the Children's nativity after church and that  I felt it was something he would really enjoy and that the possibility of him coming into contact with this person was very slim.  He agreed that he wanted to come and we said we would pick him up.  Mary has never come because she doesn't enjoy the best of health and helps to do respite for her other daughter who has a severely autistic child on Sundays.  

When we left to come back to ours, I felt really good and excited about our visit and was so happy that we had been prompted to drop off that card. 

This is not where the miracle ends . . .  

 

And so we picked up John yesterday and we went to church.  Once we got there we discovered, unbenownst to any of us, that John's daughter Ruth and his son-in-law were going to be the speakers during our Sacrament meeting.  I was so surprised.  John was surprised also because they hadn't said anything to him about it when he had told them the day before that he was coming to church. 

Their talks were beautiful.  They both spoke about how very challenging their last year had been, but how by acting on faith and clinging to the Saviour's promises, and how facing these challenge together and with the Saviour's help,  they had been able to get through the tunnel and move slowly towards the light, and how they had been able to feel his love and hands througout all their ordeals, and about the lessons they had been taught in doing so etc.  They were amazing talks, truly. You would have thought these were two spiritual giants who had many years of experience in giving talks and being in the church, rather than being two converts of only a few years.  They were and ARE spiritual giants in my eyes.  

To make a long story short, John was very touched by the talks. They spoke to his heart in a very special way and he related to us in the car on the way home how very pleased he was that we had taken the time to visit him and Mary on Friday and how much our friendship meant to him and how he wanted to start coming back to church full time again and would we be able to pick him up next week as well, and of course we talked about his daughter's and son-in-law's talks and how they made us all feel. 

 

I said to John . . .  there is no such thing as a co-incidence or accident when you are talking about our Heavenly Father and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   The prompting that Todd and I had to drop off the card on Friday was no accident, it was meant to be.  God's timing is perfect.  He knew John and Mary would be there  even if we didn't. He prompted Todd to speak up and thankfully Todd had the courage to do so.  John's daughter and son-in-law had been asked to speak in church by our Bishopric several weeks back and none of us knew that they were the ones who would be speaking yesterday or what their topics would be, but our Heavely Father knew and because we had all listened to the promptings of our hearts, and because of our willingness to act upon those promptings, something very wonderful was brought to pass.  It was not just John's and Mary's hearts that were touched and changed, but also mine and Todd's and John's daughter and her husbands as well. 

Sometimes in life we will be prompted to do things that will take us out of our comfort zones, that we may feel reluctant to do or maybe even afraid to do. We are God's hands on earth.  When we are humble enough to listen to His promptings and brave enough to follow through on them, He will bless our lives and the lives of those around us.  I so know this is true and I am very grateful for that.  Because of one simple act of courage on our part, six lives were blessed this weekend in an amazing and tangible way.  There is no such thing as co-incidence. Only God-incidence.  

The End. 

 

The children's nativity yesterday was just wonderful!  I counted 37 children at the front participating and that didn't include the ones who were too shy to go up or the ones in Nursery that aren't old enough to participate.  It was just wonderful to see all the angels, and shepherds, etc.  to listen to them sing and recite and perform.  We have such a large group in our children's Sunday School and such fabulous leaders and teachers to help them.  It was really special.

Ariana's mom was there with Ariana yesterday. I was so excited to see her.  We gave each other big hugs.  She doesn't speak English and I don't speak Spanish but  we both speak the language of love!  I hope I get a chance to see her again before she goes back to Spain  Ariana always acts as an interpreter!  Its great!  Grace just gets cuter and cuter with every day that passes.  Her hair is coming in now in lovely little curls and her big brown eyes just melt your heart into a big puddle. 

 

My sister went to visit Mom's resting place yesterday and left something Christmassy from us all. I am so grateful for my sister and the way she still cares for our mother, and her diligence in caring for our dad.  He has dinner there most nights.  He says she is a good cook, and he's right about that, she is!  She was making baked beans and meat pies (tortiere) on Saturday. I told her I wish I had a "Beam me up Scotty" machine so I could just pop over and enjoy them too! 

We have been working on our family history together.  We were able to link up both our family trees on Family Search.org, which was great. You know you don't have to be a member of the church to sign up for and use Family Search. Its free and there is no obligation. You will have access to all the family history records our church keeps, and nobody will come knocking on your door. I promise.

Oh, and wonderfully, Tina was able to go to church yesterday.  She did not stay the full time, but she was there.  Praise God for answered prayers and thank YOU for yours.

Well, I am running out of time. My heart is full this month.  A whole mixed bag of feelings.  It is sad on several levels, but it is full of joy on many more others. I cannot complain.  This month has seen many miracles in our lives with our rent now being covered in full, me being able to get some financial support for my arthritis, and so very much, much more. Life is truly good.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
 *Blesson,

Its when you are able to view

painful lessons as blessings.

In other words,

a Blesson is what happens when

you see the blessing in what

your challenge taught you.

~Karen Salmansohm•。★★ 。* 。 

 

In the kitchen today, Gingered Lemon Sole, for two.  A delicious fish dish that you can have on the table in less than 10! 

We are off to Costco this morning to pick up a few things and then I have my Chiropracter this afternoon. I hope your week ahead is filled to overflowing with small and wonderful things!  Don't forget! 

 

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And I do too!