Headlines report that twelve thousand flights have been canceled due to the Christmas arctic blast. Chicago schools closed early; people are working from home.
Our daughter came from Chicago for Christmas. Had she scheduled her flights a day later, she could have been stuck instead of here with us.
Months ago, when she bought her plane tickets, she debated mildly whether or not to pull her children out of school a few days early. Her own work allowed her to finish the week before Christmas, so she jumped on the plan to travel December 21st.
In the days before, they learned of the impending storm. They were grateful to be getting out in the Saint Nick of time.
So grateful.
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I believe we do not live our lives alone.
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When we come to earth as miraculously-created creatures, we come "trailing clouds of glory." Our spirits leave a heavenly presence, surrounded by a loving father and mother in heaven. When we arrive, to grow, to learn, to suffer, we are not expected to do it alone. There is divine help and a divine presence available to all.
One explanation is the light of Christ. The spirit of existence is fueled by the power and light of Christ. When we are alive, we are so because of this power. When the power leaves, we are deceased.
The second power that may abide with us is the Holy Ghost, a spiritual blessing of promptings, warnings, and comfort.
A second accompaniment is the presence of loved ones who have already lived out their life on earth or who have yet to come.
We are surrounded always by our lineage. It is a never-ending string.
From my own tangible and intangible experiences, I know this to be true. Absolutely true.
The goal is to live in a way that we always have the spirit with us, Through our attitudes, our humility, and our love, we strive to be in the company of this goodness. This gift. This absolutely incredible-ness is hardly understood because it is not of this world. Thus it is hard to grasp, hard to explain,--until you experience it. It is a gift that is sought after through prayer, devotion, covenants and ordinances.
Always wanting this gift and knowing not how to measure it, I recently heard or read that it is easier to determine when we don't have the spirit with us, and perhaps all the other times, the spirit is with us. With this acknowledgment, it is easier to see the miracles of life in the simple and the profound. For example, choosing to fly the day before a storm without a conscious knowledge of a future storm.
This knowledge, this hope, is a life game-changer.
For today, when my house is filled with eight little children with sticky fingers, a cough that threatens all, and demands for care, I ask for the spirit to be with me that I may have extra patience and love.
Next week, when I am traveling, I need the spirit to guide me in the choices I will have to make. In two weeks, I need the spirit to be a perceptive-to-my-students's needs kind of teacher.
Even when I write, I can ask for help in writing. This subject, I have pondered for days, and thus I can hope I was guided to write just what we all needed.
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