I’m not sure how this will work, but it’s an idea I’ve had popping around in my skull for a while, and so I figured I’d toss it out and see what happens (plus, all that bouncing was causing my brain to hurt).
This thread is about all those little blessings we get that we either barely notice, or (because they are so small or seemingly trivial) would feel a little odd about mentioning in a testimony.
An example might help: I’m thankful I can whistle. But there’s more to it than that – I believe I received a specific blessing from God that allows me to whistle. Let me explain:
I could never whistle. Well, that’s not exactly true: From when I was a child all the way to age 19, I could only whistle one thin, tinny note. My peers mercilessly mocked me. I tried to get friends to teach me how. Whenever it came up, people looked at me oddly, as though not being able to whistle meant I was really an alien. “Come on. It’s easy – you just whistle. Everybody can do it!” Everyone except me, I guess.
I tried. I occasionally spent hours trying to whistle. Nothing happened.
Then, one day, after about a month in the MTC (Missionary Training Center), I was walking to class and an odd thought occurred to me: Whistle a hymn. At first I thought “I can’t whistle.” But the thought came back: Whistle a hymn. So I did. And guess what: I really did it. Suddenly I was whistling hymns. It may not have been perfect, but it was no longer on thin, tinny note. There was a range and a fullness I’d never, ever whistled before. It was quite exhilarating.
Now, I still have a few unresolved issues with my mission, but in that one case, I honestly feel the Lord blessed me with the ability to whistle. I will never be a professional whistler, but I CAN WHISTLE! IT actually meant a lot to me, despite how silly it may sound.
Of course, it’s such a small, trivial thing, It seems odd to bear testimony about it, or use it in a talk about blessings one can get from serving the Lord. Also, I’m sure some neuroscientist would make a claim about dendrites and brain development and toss God out of the equation.
But then there’s this scripture (emphasis mine):
D&C 59:21 And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.
My sudden, unexpected ability to whistle falls under “all things.” It may not be the 5000 dollar check in the mail to the faithful tithe payer, or the miraculous healing of a child, but it’s still important and God expects me to confess his hand in it.
So – anyone else have small, seemingly trivial things they want to confess God’s hand in?
When I was little, I was out on a woodcutting expedition with my Dad. I wanted to be big so I begged and begged my Dad until finally he let me have a hatchet to lop small limbs with. He was pretty unhappy about it though and it was pretty clear I was going to catch it bad if I misused the thing or lost it. So of course I did lose it. My mom told me to pray, so I did, and then she told me to sit somewhere quiet and listen to the Spirit, so I went off and set down on a stump to think and ended up sitting on top of the hatchet. Somehow it had worked its way under the needle mold on top of the stump and so it wasn’t visible.
I’ve posted about another small mercy here. Like your whistling problem, it was something so minor that I hadn’t even bothered the Lord with it.
I have an acquaintance in our ward who is dying of cancer. She and her mother said that when people starting giving support (back when she was given a very short time to live) someone told her to “look for small miracles.” And they came. They have had many small miracles. She isn’t cured, which of course is the big miracle you want for a young mother, so her children aren’t left motherless. But you can hear when they speak, they feel supported by the Lord with many small miracles.
I like Elder Bednar’s thoughts on the subject. 😉
http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Ensign/2005.htm/ensign%20may%202005.htm/the%20tender%20mercies%20of%20the%20lord.htm
How many times have you lost your keys/wallet, prayed, and then found them? So many times, God must laugh at me, not with me! Such a great example of how ‘Seek and and ye shall find!’
The privilege of being the delivery person for someone else’s blessings is also a blessing. Whether it’s delivering the gospel in white shirt and tie or pulling over to help 60 seconds after an elderly lady has a flat tire.
I drive a car that I worked forever to get to buy. It is one possession that I obsess over. I was following a truck one day down the canyon near our home. I was looking at the back of the pickup when a voice inside my head told me I should change lanes. As soon as I had executed the change a five gallon bucket flew out of the back of the truck. Had I ignored the prompt, the bucket would have come smashing through the windscreen. It a small thing. I think of it as a miracle. I call those blessings tithing blessings. I’ve never got a check in the mail, or money fall from the sky, but I drive the freeways of California to know, my tithing blessings get used up on the road!
My life is surrounded with so many little blessings, and I feel embarrassed sometimes that I am not more thankful. A wonderful wife to share everything with, children who are healthy and happy, a good, stable job, a supportive extended family. I have been especially blessed to see results from my home teaching work. I have many inactive families and individuals whom I home teach, and a few of them are starting to come back to Church. I can see a direct correlation between my righteous prayers and desires, my following of the commandments and good things happening in other peoples’ lives through home teaching. It all seems linked somehow.
This will sound strange to some but what I am thankful for that seems so small in todays soceity is the c-section. It is such a routine thing now that most people don’t even think of it. But I am thankful to live in a time where it is a fairly safe procedure, which means that I can have all the little blessings that come wtih having children. Probably not something that I would bear my testimony about but still it was wisdom that I was born in the time that I was.
Thank you so much for giving us the forum to reflect on our blessings both big and small. Recently I had to go into the city to see a specialist. We live in the country and great big pick up trucks are the norm so I drive a big red truck. City driving is stressful for me, but even worse when I got to the hospital the parking was a nightmare. The parking garage had teeny tiny parking spaces, no maneuverability, and not a single parking space was available (even if I could have fit into it). Time was running short for my appointment so I said a short prayer and a few moments later the perfect spot became available.
I agree Katie being alive in this age is a wonderful blessing. Anonymoose it is good to see that someone else has the same problem