I Believe in Miracles

This morning I finally felt rested when I woke up. Probably because it was nearly afternoon. But whatever. I determined to work in my yard no matter the weather... and was only slightly deterred when I saw the forecast for rain and temps in the 40s. But, not to be dissuaded, I put on an extra layer and went outside, determined to get rid of the little maple seedlings that were taking over my lawn. Most of the way through, I thought about quitting - there is something about bending, stooping, and squatting that makes the muscles in your legs start complaining after a while - but I pressed on, and finally finished.  I was impressed by how my eye quickly became accustomed to spotting the red-stemmed greenish yellow (sometimes) leaves in the green grass; I'm sure more than one of the people walking by were wondering exactly what I was trying to find. But whatever. I felt good knowing it was done.

This afternoon I picked up my friend and we did a session at the temple. We ran into another friend - my AZ buddy - while we were there, and determined that it was a little miracle that we had both thought to do the same things in the same order today - 4pm session, dinner in the cafeteria downstairs, and on to the evening session of Stake Conference.  I was grateful to be there, and to feel like I was an answer to prayer.

The talks tonight were excellent. I was struck by the realization that I knew everyone who spoke. This is Stake Conference, people. There are thousands of people in our stake, any of whom could have been asked to speak. But I knew all five speakers and at least one person in both musical numbers. Weird. It's like I'm a local or something.  We heard awesome talks about the influence we can have on the children & the youth ... the power of one influence, or how we can be like electrons in a chemical reaction to effect change (I liked that analogy - get lots of energy, start bumping into people, and make a real difference in the world!) ... how God is a God of miracles and we should both expect them and ask for them ... and how we are judged on the desires of our hearts (the temple president gave that talk, and it was pretty much amazing).

So now, after a gang of us went to get ice cream and basically took over the little shop (but then realized there were other customers so we squished all 20 or so of us into the corner so they could all sit down to enjoy their ice cream too) and a trip to Target, my blissful Saturday of no plans and ultimate freedom must needs come to an end.  And I just want to say before it does: I believe that prayers are answered, I believe that sometimes I am the answer to someone else's prayer, and I believe in miracles.