Melanie has promised to take me to Sunset Point this evening to witness one from yet another angle overlooking the City.
Last evening, while she and Aaron and the girls were at Sunset Point, they noticed a young couple arriving just before the sun began to set. Melanie thought to herself that she hoped the giggling girls wouldn't be disturbing a romantic moment for the young couple. She watched as they unloaded a small basket from their car and move to a meadow like area to settle down.
The young man spread a plastic sheet on the ground (all while Mel was thinking only a man would bring a plastic sheet instead of a blanket) and set the basket down. He got down on his knees (at this point Mel was convinced he was about to propose to the girl of his dreams!) and spoke to his girlfriend. Oh my, they didn't want to interrupt this precious moment so she was hushing the girls and trying to be discrete.
All of a sudden, the young man flipped open the top of the basket and the woman screamed! ("Oh my gosh," Mel thought "he really is going to propose!") But just when she was totally convinced the girl screamed again and said - "Oh my gosh, you know I HATE mice!"
Mice, mice really? Yep it seems that the young man had dyed two mice different colors and had placed the plastic on the ground to have a race between the two! Terribly funny!
As it turned out, they ended up asking the girls to join them (neither of the two really wanted to handle the mice and the girls did!) in "mouse racing."
Isn't it funny how we can perceive things one way and they turn out another? So many times we think we have witnessed one thing when in reality it is something completely different.
Melanie's family ended up spending at least half an hour talking with the young couple who are actually students here at Weber University. The young man is a Mormon and is from this area, while the woman is from Canada. They shared information about the area and then the young man shared a hysterical story with them.
He said that once while he was out on his "Mission" he and his partner got caught in a terrible rain storm. It was a really bad storm and the tornado sirens began to go off all over the town. Now, you and I both know how people are about letting "missionaries" into their homes. Well, every door they knocked on to try and escape the storm and possible tornado, they were turned away! Really? Crazy! They were getting desperate when one woman finally opened her door and let them in. She told them to stand there by the front door. She then went and got to large black plastic bags and cut holes for their heads and arms and sent them back out into the storm!!!!
Wow! I am glad the young men survived the storm and came home safely. But, can you imagine? Would you let them in or would you turn them away? The woman was certainly somewhat less than a Good Samaritan, but surely fell short of what our Creator would have us do! I can't imagine letting anyone go back out into a terrible storm, much less a storm which had tornado sirens screaming. We must become a kinder, gentler and less selfish world. Can you imagine what different scenarios could have taken place here?
The young men could have died in the storm. The woman could have invited them in and sheltered them and shown kindness and a generosity of spirit. Lives could have changed.
We never know what will be placed in our paths on any given day. We need to think seriously about how we would respond in circumstances when someone might need our help or counsel. We could be part of the solution instead of the problem. Look up at the sunset this evening wherever you are and thank the Creator for His many gifts to us. Ask Him honestly how to handle those unexpected moments which cross our paths.
PEACE - LOVE & JOY
Linda
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