It's a "Mirror"acle!

I recently became a part of a catering company, along with three other woman whom I didn't know until six months ago. OK...not really a catering company- I have been asked to serve in our church's Young Women organization. 
http://www.lds.org/handbook/handbook-2-administering-the-church/young-women?lang=eng

Funeral potatoes

The Young Women and Young Men organization in our stake (A stake is a geographical subdivision similar to a Catholic diocese. A stake is composed of individual congregations called wards.) participated in a regional dance, aka; "Mormon Prom" last night in Oakland, California. As the stake Young Women Presidency (the catering company), we engaged our ninja catering skills to provide dinner before the prom, complete with the infamous potatoes known to be a part of many church gatherings specifically, funerals.




We were only prepared to decorate six tables. As we arrived,
we realized we needed to add one more table to accommodate the increasing number of youth. We hadn't prepared to decorate seven tables. As our preparations progressed, Rebecca said, "I only brought six pairs of salt and pepper shakers."  We continued our decorating and realized there were indeed seven pairs of salt and pepper shakers. We all giggled and compared the "miracle" to Biblical times. And as I type this, I still wonder if our prom dinner was significant enough to solicit a miracle. As our decorating was coming to a finish, Joleen asked, "What about the mirrors for the tables? What are we going to do for the table without the mirror?" I said something to the effect, "We'll get balloons to put on a couple of the tables, the kids won't even notice a missing mirror. Felicia replied, "But there are mirrors on all the tables." I said, "What?! No way, the box that the mirrors came in said: six mirrors!" Felicia counted the mirrors...seven. I looked and counted the tables again--seven. I walked around to all of the tables to see for myself- seven, again. Wow. Really?! Was our prom dinner really that significant to the Lord, specifically, the decorations for the dinner? The answer came to me just now. The Lord isn't really concerned about the right amount of salt and pepper shakers and center piece decorations, but He is concerned about us. He wants us to know He is aware of us and is involved in the every day seemingly mundane aspects of our life. So when hard times hit, we can look back and remember that the Lord is aware and He will deliver us.

Yesterday, I stopped to talk with a friend, Kristen (name has been changed). She shared she had lost an extremely expensive earring her husband had given her. The earring had been missing for several months and Kristin had been looking for it ever since. She was sad, but was willing to look one more day and then let it go... Today, I ran into Kristin again. She held out her ear--sparkling on her ear was the gorgeous long lost earring. Her smile outshone her earring. More important than finding the earring was Kristin realizing that the Lord was aware of her. More valuable than diamonds is the knowledge that He is in this existence with us--at times, this disappointing, painful and heartbreaking existence. Yet, His message is clear: He will deliver, save, even redeem us. And as a side note, it has been my experience, His saving comes according to His time frame not ours.  I'm reminded of the Lord's words in the Gospel of Matthew as He addressed his disciples. The Lord speaks of the fowl of the air, they don't labor much for their food, but God provides for them. The lilies of the field were created for the soul purpose of our enjoyment, and the the grass of the field, here one day cast in the oven the next. Yet, God watches over all of these. "Are ye much better than they?" Matt. 6:28

In the car this morning, I shared the prom dinner experience with my kids. My Anna wittingly responded: "It was a "mirror-acle!" I wholeheartedly agree.