A Heavenly Glimpse

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we understand that our spirits were creating by a loving Father in Heaven, who sent us to this earth to gain a body, and the experience neccessary to help us develop our divine qualities and return to Him some day. Yet some weeks, it seems easy to get bogged down with the cruddier parts of mortality rather than focusing on this eternal plan.


You know, things like a broken high quality dishwasher only five years old that needs to be replaced, poorly designed electrical work that makes installing the new one quite difficult, another major round of sickness (third this season!) including pneumonia, fevers, body aches, runny and stuffy noses, coughs, and conjunctivitis amongst the family members, teamed with brutally cold snowy weather, bickering siblings, and a host of other worries big and small.

Yesterday after picking up the big girls from Girl Scouts we ran by the store for a few essentials. On the way home we passed a college-age girl struggling to carry her own groceries and a larger sized duffel. It was very cold, and I wanted to stop to offer her a ride. It was a little tricky to get turned around and in a position to talk to her, but I managed to reach her at the exact moment she had set the groceries down to readjust.

"Would you like a ride home? It's so cold out and you have so much to carry." I worried that she might think I was some weird stalker person, but hoped she would trust me anyway.


Her face lit up. She went to put her groceries in the back seat, and realized I had a car full of children, so she opted to keep them near her rather than go back toward the cargo space. It took about 5 minutes to get her home. Not a big deal in a warm car, but a long way to walk on a frigid afternoon with a heavy load.

It turns out that Agatha is here to study at a local university for one year before returning to her native home in France. Her roommates usually drive her to the store, but they are all Americans and are not yet back from winter break. She really needed food and as the bus didn't go to this grocery store, she had chosen to walk.

I have a dear friend who just returned from a year in France. She blogged about many sweet experiences there, including some where their family was very blessed or served by someone else. Visiting with Agatha reminded me of this friend, and made me feel a greater connection to the world at large, that we could all be linked somehow by serving each other.

My heart swelled with gratitude for this small opportunity to serve and bring greater meaning to my life.