Random??

     I realize much of the country and even the world is really intent on politics and the Olympics. I'm sorry but I think of them as only temporary issues in the eternal scheme of things. Eventually there will be no United States or any other country for that matter. We are all God's children and have just made up boundaries between us. The Father and His Son would prefer that we love each other and work together for good rather than compete or attempt to beat each other. (Lest there be misunderstanding, I realize that many athletes only have it in mind to do the best they can and actually feel a bond with other excellent athletes no matter where they come from. ) I continue to be amazed here in Nauvoo by "coincidences" which are not really just coincidences at all. I have wondered how it is that there are so many experiences of what my son calls "small world" incidents. Is it really just a random coincidence that 50 years ago a man visits some friends of his parents in Utah that he really doesn't know, then finds out over a dinner conversation in Illinois 50 year later that he and his wife are working in the temple where the daughter of that family he visited is serving as a temple matron? Is it just coincidence that a man born and raised in Germany, later immigrating to the US, works in the temple and happens to be assigned to an area where he meets a young woman who happens to be visiting from the small town where he was born and raised in Germany? I understand that coincidences truly do happen to lots of people all over the world. However, if there could be such a study, I would guess that a study of such "coincidences" would show that there are more of them among LDS Church members than in most places among most people. Why?
     As I read the scriptures in the temple today, I came across what could be an answer to that question. I read in John 10: "The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep... My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.... I and my Father are one." Most people in the LDS Church to whom these experiences happen are fully aware they are orchestrated by a higher power. We call them "tender mercies" of the Lord, using a term coined by a modern-day apostle. It makes sense to me that when you have a group of people who are focusing on obeying and serving the Lord, trying to be "one" with Him as He is with the Father, they are going to be where He wants them to be when He wants them to be there. And that loving Father wants us to know each other and love each other so we are put in circumstances where we are brought together. He wants us to realize in a world that can be scary and chaotic that we are not alone. Hearing the still, small voice of the Comforter can be pretty difficult when the world is shouting in your ears and flashing in your eyes and inside your head you have mounting doubts and fears. If we take the time to read about Him so we can be reassured of His love for us and His promises that things will be alright, like for the sparrows of the air and lilies of the field, we can receive comfort. But sometimes we just don't take the time to try to make contact with Him. He tries to send us messages but we don't always get them. It's not that He doesn't try to contact us, it's that we don't listen and receive.
     I know that those I love have the freedom to make choices just as I have. I know I can't force them to pay attention to or follow the Lord. My heart just aches with the desire that they could ALL feel His love and could choose to be among His sheep, listening for His voice. He truly does bring peace and goodwill for ALL of us- if that's what we choose.