Friday, May 21, 2010
Small and Simple Things
Yesterday I saw that someone in my apartment complex had left their car lights on. The first time I saw it, I thought, "Wow, I really hope they'll come out and see that before the battery dies..." I wished I knew whose car it was but I didn't and so I went on my way.
An hour or two later, returning home at about midnight, I saw that the car still had its lights on. I went through the same patern of thought I'd gone through earlier. When I was almost to my door I thought, "Too bad there's nothing I can do." And then I felt a thought pop into my mind: "Well, there is something you can do, if you're willing to do it." Based on where the car was parked, I knew it probably belonged to someone who lived in one of 12 apartments. Earlier I had thought it would be too much effort to go knock on every door. But then I realized that if I really cared, this wasn't such a hard thing to do. Besides, I was worried that maybe the owner would be in a rush the next day and would need a car that worked--not a car with a dead-as-a-doornail battery. It was late, though, so I said a silent pray that I would be helped to find the owner quickly. The first two apartments I passed had no lights on so I decided not to knock. The next one I saw did have lights. I knocked. Two girls answered and they told me they thought the car might be their roommate's. One girl ran down to check. I started heading downstairs to knock on other doors just in case. As I was doing so, the girl who'd gone to check came back---it was her roommate's car! Feeling a happy sense of peace and lots of gratitude, I went home to sleep.
What I thought was going to take a while took only a few minutes. I feel like God helped me knock on the right door right away and helped the roommates to still be awake, too. Some of you might think that sounds silly, but I believe God cares about even the tiny struggles and cares in our lives. In fact I know it. I have too much evidence not to :)
As I'm reflecting on this, it makes me think of one of my favorite scriptures:
"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.
And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." (Alma 37:6-7, Book of Mormon)
One of the most beautiful parts of life is that God helps us be angels to each other if we're willing and even sometimes when we don't realize it at first :) Does anyone have any experiences like that?
Thanks for visiting!
Love,
Sierra
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ps - I always mean to write shorter post but once I get going I can't resist going on and on :) The more I write, the more seems to come ^u^
ReplyDeleteI love that you did that Sierra, and you're so right! Most of the time I pass up things like this thinking they would be too much effort but it doesn't take that much time or effort to help someone else and what you gain is amazing :)
ReplyDeleteThat was a really cool story. Sometimes by very small means we can make wonderful things happen. One time when I was on my mission, we had a call from a lady that wanted to receive a church movie and learn more about the church. As I looked for the movie in my aapartment I couldn't find it so we call other missionaries to see if they had it. they had a copy of it, so they gave us the ey of their apartment so we could go get. We found the movie, we exited the apartment and when we were about to lock the door, the key got stuck and it wouldn't come out. Since we were late for the appointment with the lady, we decided to pray so the key would come out. As we did, the idea came to my mind that we should use cooking oil to lubricate the door lock and after we did the key came right out and we were able to make it to the appointment. It is amazing how God is involved even in the smallest details of our lifes and for that I am very grateful =)
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