I was reminded today of an experience I had when Scott and I had first moved to St. George. In order to get to my school to teach each day, I had a fifteen minute drive from my house. I was lucky enough to be driving directly into the sun going both to and from school. I remember hating the longer days because as I'd be driving to the school, the sun would be JUST on the horizon, making it so that no matter how I turned my head or sun visor in the car, the sun was still powerfully in my eyes the entire drive.
Scott's parents were more familiar with the area, as they'd lived down here for quite a number of years before Scott and I moved down. Because of this, we often talked with them about routes to different places. One time when one of these discussions came up, I mentioned how I hated the sun's position on the way to school.
Scott's dad misunderstood a part of what I said. When he found out what time I left for the school, his comment was something to the effect that the sun wasn't high enough in the sky at that time of morning to be a problem.
I remember thinking it was so funny he had said that. I knew it was because he either hadn't heard all of what I said or had misunderstood part of it. But still. Of course the sun wasn't high enough in the sky- that was exactly my problem. Any higher in the sky and I'd at least be able to block it with the visor... Every morning as I squinted into the direct sunlight I would giggle to myself about the sun not being high enough...
I'm not proud of it, but it was a full year before I realized what he had REALLY been saying. They live farther away, and at their house, that time of morning the sun wasn't high enough to be a problem. Meaning it was still below the horizon, and therefore not in your eyes...
I remember the morning that finally hit me. I laughed so hard at myself. It was a stupid little epiphany (the English teacher in me wants to make sure you know that an epiphany is an ah-hah! moment...), but it was powerful to me for several reasons. When I think about it now, I realize that the things I learned from this also have spiritual applications.
The first thing I learned was that we can all take the same incident or event and have a completely different experience. Same time of morning, same direction of driving. For me the sun was unbearably annoying. For my father-in-law it was just below the horizon and perfect lighting. All it took was a shift of about twenty miles. That can happen in life. I can be sitting listening to a lesson in church and be extremely irritated with the teacher or extremely uplifted- while the person next to me is having the opposite experience. I think it's mostly attitude with any experience. The car breaks down. One person may see it as an opportunity to be blessed that things fell into place to fix the problem. Someone else may see it as an inconvenience with no upside. We ought to watch our attitudes to make sure we make life happy for ourselves and those around us. It's all attitude...
The second thing I learned is that people can take the exact same words and get completely different meanings out of them. Our interpretation will most likely be influenced most by our past experiences. My past experience said the sun wasn't high enough and therefore causing a problem. My father-in-law's past experience said the sun wasn't high enough and therefore would never cause a problem. We can interpret many things differently than those around us. (Lesson in communication here is make sure everyone knows what you mean whenever possible....) Look at the scriptures. I can read a verse and get an answer to a prayer. Someone else can read the exact same verse and get the answer to their prayer about a completely different situation. Isn't it amazing that Heavenly Father can talk to us in the way we need at any given moment? We just have to look.
The last thing I learned is that life is full of epiphanies. Suddenly understanding what Scott's dad was saying about the sun. Finally realizing how to make the budget work. Suddenly understanding a gospel principle. In the spiritual sense, the little epiphanies are how we build our testimonies. You pay your tithing, and you get a blessing that you see. Something clicks and you understand the law of tithing. The prophet tells a story to illustrate a point he is making and you are able to relate. Something clicks and you realize that what he is saying is true. I believe that if we all have these epiphanies, eventually one of our epiphanies will be that all epiphanies are actually the spirit of God speaking to us, teaching us. Then our testimonies grow and we are that much closer to where we need to be.
Pray for epiphanies. Treasure them when they come. Write them down so you don't forget. It's the epiphanies in life that build the stair case to our Father in Heaven.
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