Infrequent - that's what I'd label faith-based posts on this blog. Perhaps that's good, maybe I should post about my beliefs more often. I'm not going to commit to anything. But today, my heart is full and very grateful.
In LDS faith education, Jack R. Christensen is a trusted name, a reputable source for teaching, learning and sermonizing. While at school in Utah, I attended a few of his courses and was always edified and uplifted by them. They were a comfort. He released several audio talks, sermons, if you will and my favorite is one called "The Mortal Christ". It is simply beautiful, all about the mortal life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Brother Christensen relates one particular story that came to mind during today's heart-heavy events. He relates a time in his own life when driving through the plains of Wyoming or Montana, several hundred miles from home.
It was dinner time and he was happy to find a Subway sandwich shop in a town on his route. As he pulled into the sandwich shop, an idea came to mind that Whopper meals at Burger King, just across the street, were only $1.99. Being self-admittedly, essentially cheap, he drove across the highway to Burger King for a whopper meal. When he walked into Burger King he found a friend from his home area inside, who was astonished to see him. The friend had been going through a very low point and Brother Christensen was able to help him because he paid attention to a seemingly unimportant idea, put into his mind by the Holy Spirit.
That message stayed with me over the years. That sometimes the Spirit doesn't shout at us, or tell us specifically what to do. (Believing that we are beings sent to Earth to gain wisdom and make choices pleasing to our Father in Heaven, it doesn't make sense that we would always be told what we should do.) Today I had a similar experience. I wasn't driving through Wyoming, and I didn't get a whopper meal. This morning I had planned to stay in my hotel room and work remotely while my sister took her kids to a play date with her friends. Afterward we were all going to go to my Parent's home and spend time with them. For some reason, as she was ready to leave, two ideas wouldn't leave me. The first, that it would be an inconvenience to the housekeeper if I stayed in the room, struck me as odd, and I didn't dispute that, but I thought I would just ask her for fresh towels and to empty the trash. No biggie.
The second idea to surface, that the internet connection at my parents house would be better than that available at the hotel, mulled around in my head. Between the maid and the internet, I revised my plans on a whim and out the door went the sister, her kids and I.
I hadn't been in the house five minutes before I heard a yell for help. My father had suffered a stroke (another stroke, on top of other ailments) and had been laying on his bathroom floor for an unknown time. My mother was in the bathroom trying to help him move his 6'4", 250+ pounds of unresponsive body off the ground. Somehow, between my mother and me, we managed to move my Dad to his bed and then go about the business of helping him.
Tonight I'm so grateful. Grateful for lessons that stay with us. Grateful for promptings and whisperings and the popping of seemingly random ideas into our minds. I'm so grateful to have been able and around to help, but especially grateful to have more time with my father, perhaps, in small part, because the maid would have been inconvenienced by my staying in my hotel room, and because the internet at the hotel was slow.
In LDS faith education, Jack R. Christensen is a trusted name, a reputable source for teaching, learning and sermonizing. While at school in Utah, I attended a few of his courses and was always edified and uplifted by them. They were a comfort. He released several audio talks, sermons, if you will and my favorite is one called "The Mortal Christ". It is simply beautiful, all about the mortal life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Brother Christensen relates one particular story that came to mind during today's heart-heavy events. He relates a time in his own life when driving through the plains of Wyoming or Montana, several hundred miles from home.
It was dinner time and he was happy to find a Subway sandwich shop in a town on his route. As he pulled into the sandwich shop, an idea came to mind that Whopper meals at Burger King, just across the street, were only $1.99. Being self-admittedly, essentially cheap, he drove across the highway to Burger King for a whopper meal. When he walked into Burger King he found a friend from his home area inside, who was astonished to see him. The friend had been going through a very low point and Brother Christensen was able to help him because he paid attention to a seemingly unimportant idea, put into his mind by the Holy Spirit.
That message stayed with me over the years. That sometimes the Spirit doesn't shout at us, or tell us specifically what to do. (Believing that we are beings sent to Earth to gain wisdom and make choices pleasing to our Father in Heaven, it doesn't make sense that we would always be told what we should do.) Today I had a similar experience. I wasn't driving through Wyoming, and I didn't get a whopper meal. This morning I had planned to stay in my hotel room and work remotely while my sister took her kids to a play date with her friends. Afterward we were all going to go to my Parent's home and spend time with them. For some reason, as she was ready to leave, two ideas wouldn't leave me. The first, that it would be an inconvenience to the housekeeper if I stayed in the room, struck me as odd, and I didn't dispute that, but I thought I would just ask her for fresh towels and to empty the trash. No biggie.
The second idea to surface, that the internet connection at my parents house would be better than that available at the hotel, mulled around in my head. Between the maid and the internet, I revised my plans on a whim and out the door went the sister, her kids and I.
I hadn't been in the house five minutes before I heard a yell for help. My father had suffered a stroke (another stroke, on top of other ailments) and had been laying on his bathroom floor for an unknown time. My mother was in the bathroom trying to help him move his 6'4", 250+ pounds of unresponsive body off the ground. Somehow, between my mother and me, we managed to move my Dad to his bed and then go about the business of helping him.
Tonight I'm so grateful. Grateful for lessons that stay with us. Grateful for promptings and whisperings and the popping of seemingly random ideas into our minds. I'm so grateful to have been able and around to help, but especially grateful to have more time with my father, perhaps, in small part, because the maid would have been inconvenienced by my staying in my hotel room, and because the internet at the hotel was slow.
I am glad you were there. I love how the spirit works with us in that way. I hope your father is doing better?
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