I am going to write about an experience Rob and I had last night so I never forget. I think sometimes we easily forget these small tender mercies from our Heavenly Father because there is so much other stuff going on in our lives that we forget to remember them.
On Monday night around 11 pm, Rob and I bundled up in blankets and headed outside to lay on the tramp and look at the sky. I had heard there was a meteor shower that promised as many as 30-40 meteors per hour that night, so we decided to try to see some. I remember my mom would tell us about these when I was young and she would even wake us up sometimes to see meteor showers or lunar eclipses, so I guess I get my excitement about these types of things from her. Normally I would be fast asleep by 11.
We looked up in the sky but our view was blocked by our trampoline net. We only had a small circle where we could see the sky clearly. Even so, we saw quite a few shooting stars that night. It really is amazing to see. We saw 2 that were pretty good, the others we saw we just quick flashes of light, but still fun to see. We also saw 2 satellites, which I always think is amazing. I mean, we have huge hunks of metal in orbiting the earth. Pretty neat. We called it a night after seeing maybe 5 or 6 and headed back in and went to sleep. I thought it was a great success.
The next night (last night) I asked Rob if he wanted to go out again and look for meteors because the shower was supposedly still going to be happening. The moon was really bright on Monday and was even bright last night so I wasn't expecting to see as many as the night before. We were laying on the tramp again with our blankets. Same small viewing window as before because of the trampoline net. The meteors were supposed to be mostly coming from a different part of the sky, but we just looked straight up because we had had success the night before doing that. I spotted another satellite in the sky and we saw a few brief flashes but nothing as cool as the night before. We had been out there about 30 minutes when we were discussing going back inside in a bit. We had also reminisced about the few times when we were dating that we went out to a park in Spanish Fork and would see satellites and once we saw an amazing shooting star. It was so beautiful. The biggest one we had seen in our lives.
Rob suggested that we say our nightly prayer while we were out there. It was my turn, but I felt weird praying with my eyes opened (because I didn't want to miss anything while we were praying) so Rob said it. As he was praying, I had the thought, "It would be really cool if we saw a huge shooting start right when Rob finishes the prayer." In my mind I was thinking if that happened, that would be a sign from Heavenly Father. But also in my mind, I thought "but even if that doesn't happen...I still know He is there and loves me." All of this of course went through my mind in just a split second or two. I didn't really think we were going to see anything amazing when Rob said Amen. I just thought it would be really cool if that happened.
Rob was starting to wind his prayer down and before he ended his prayer he said "Oh yeah, and thank you for this wonderful meteor shower..." and as those words came out of his mouth, a huge shooting star started flying across the sky. It started right where the trampoline net stopped blocking our view and it flew all the way across to where the net started to block our view again. We both just started hooting and hollering things like "Oh my gosh! DO you see that?! It's STILL going!!" It lasted probably 3 seconds. It was so long. And beautiful. There was an orange tail behind it that sort of broke into pieces. It was amazing. Then when it was over, Rob was like "I guess we should finish our prayer!" and he thanked Heavenly Father for that wonderful gift he had just given us.
It's really interesting because I went right in and wrote about it in my journal and I knew it was a simple sign from Heavenly Father that he loved Rob and I individually, even though we aren't really anyone special. Today as I was thinking about it I kept letting my mind wander over to thinking that some people would just think that was a coincidence. But as I thought about it more and more, there is really no way that could have been a coincidence and here are some of the reasons:
-The fact that I had the thought that it would be cool if that happened and then it actually happening. Heavenly Father speaks to people in ways that they will hear and understand. I know that this was a sign to me letting me know that even through this weird time we are having with so many new and strange things in the world, He knows me and loves me and my family. He speaks to others in ways that they will understand and hear too. Whether it be through music, nature, books, words, or other people. It's pretty amazing.
-The shooting star started literally right after Rob thanked Heavenly Father for this beautiful meteor shower. I mean...come on.
-There was a whole sky above us and all around us. Most of it was blocked by our trampoline net. We mostly just saw the big dipper in our view. The star started right at one end of the net and slowly made it's way to the other end of the net before it fizzled out. I mean, right in the middle of our view. It was amazing. When the entire night sky is out there, and it happens at that time right in the view where we don't even need to turn our heads or eyes, that's amazing.
Anyway, I just wanted to write all of these thoughts down before I forgot any of them. Heavenly Father knows us an loves us individually. And he wants us to be happy and have joy. And we can have joy even when we are going through scary things like Covid-19 or earthquakes or unknown futures and anything else we might be facing. I'm grateful for that knowledge and hope that I can always see the little tender mercies that are being shown to me.
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