The Winter Wheat is Up, and a Thousand Other Miracles
The farmers have planted wheat in all the fields that we can remember as potato fields and it is up in that beautiful, verdant, new growth green that characterizes new grass. (This photo was taken in the evening and the soil is black as coal so it seems dark, but the light coming through the new blades of wheat grass is almost chartreuse. You may need to change the angle of your computer screen to get the full impact.) Each blade of grass is its own little miracle and the power of the mystery that binds farmers to farming.
We are seeing other little miracles all around. Last week we had a plumber help with refurbishing one of the homes in our stewardship. We are tiling the floor of the bathroom so the toilet needs to be removed. It is connected to the concrete slab below with a concrete collar! The plumber explains that the porcelain toilet always breaks before the cement that holds it. My mind says, "But this house belongs to Heavenly Father and you may be surprised this time." A few minutes later the plumber is smiling as he carries a completely whole and unmarred toilet out of the bathroom.
It reminds us of a thousand other little miracles: like when we decided we really wanted to volunteer for this mission our budget indicated that we could barely make it - that we would really have to be very frugal to avoid dipping into our life savings. We prayed and didn't understand why we felt that everything would be just fine. We applied and received our call and are informed that we have been called under a new program. When we arrive in England we are told that we will not have to pay any rent on our living quarters and that our car will only cost us mileage for personal, non-volunteer trips. Meanwhile the exchange rate of pound sterling for dollars has shifted 15% in our favor. We are making extra payments on our mortgage and just bought Charlet a much needed computer. There are many, many others.
Like the long ridge pole beam in the ceiling of our home that we prayed for and found on the beach a few days later: Like the new driveway that we needed to build and the heavy equipment business acquaintance who needed wetlands work done in exchange for working on our driveway: Like the friend who took raw logs in exchange for cutting other of our logs into lumber for the improvement of our garage. We just received word yesterday that the lumber is now seasoning in our garage. Like the recent recovery from a severe sore throat that happened in 18 hours instead of the usual week or two. Like the many times Jack would find that the lumber he had on hand was just barely enough (within a few inches) to finish the job he was doing. Like the owner of the lot next door gladly giving permission to fell our trees onto their lot; saving us at least a thousand dollars. Like the audiologist and doctor who said Jack's symptoms showed a tumor at the base of his skull and the Priesthood blessing that said he would be fine and the subsequent MRI that showed absolutely no abnormalities. There are many more that could be listed but they are small compared to one of the greatest miracles of all.
Last night we listened to the Apollo astronauts talk about their trips to and adventures on the moon and at the end of the program they spoke of the spiritual impact upon their lives of seeing the earth so small "you could hide it behind your thumb". One said he had an epiphany when he realized that the molecules of his body, and those of the moon, and the lunar lander and those of the earth then so far away, that they all were from the same great universal source of all these things and that he felt an overwhelming sense of unity with all things. Another said after that experience he had to give his life to Christ. Another said that he could not escape the profound feeling that the earth was so fragile, just a little sphere floating in space, so vulnerable and so tiny and the realization that there was a great creator-mind behind it all.
The great miracle that comes to mind today is that we are all alive and on this earth, that we can think and choose and act, or choose to be just acted upon, and that we can comprehend all these things and contemplate eternity and the great questions of life. And our thoughts are naturally drawn to the Creator, the Holy One of Isreal, the Only Begotten of the Father, the Savior and Redeemer who choose to come to our earth and be be among us in the most humble way so as to not frighten us with his power and might, and the tender mercies that that showed us. Fifty years ago we choose to try the Restored Gospel as promulgated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to see if it was what it claimed to be. Now, after having put it to the test for half a century, we are compelled to say that everything in it is exactly as it is claimed to be; that it all makes sense; that it is truly the way of happiness and fulfillment; that God speaks to men today; that there are Apostles and Prophets in the earth again; that miracles can and do happen on a regular basis and that we have learned by our own experience that it is all true. Therefore we say with gratitude and soberness that Jesus is the Christ, that he was and is what he claimed to be, and that we are just grateful to be able to celebrate this special time of year with the millions who join with us in his praise.
