2023/34 FLEXIBILITY

Before we left Utah for this trip to the UK I told Dave we needed to make a pact that we would be flexible. He is, thankfully, used to having this foundational attitude. We would not be a happy pair otherwise. So, we walk that fine line between not having tickets, or a place to sleep, or even gas in the car and feeling fancy free. 

It's been a great trip so far. We are today in Cardiff Wales, where we spent the day at St Fagans National History Museum. It was beautiful in every way, with an unusual appearance of sunshine. I have many a photo, and many a memory to preserve. But as I sat to edit photos and write about the day, I got some messages from home that our dear friend and sister in the Lord, Kathy Oleson, who had open heart surgery today, has had complications, went back into surgery and is in critical condition.

This is where flexibility flexes her arm. The recollections of the past day stopped and supplications for the present and future began. We stopped, mid dinner at a wonderful French restaurant, and bowed our heads, the four of us offering our own silent prayers for Kathy, when she heard she was going back into surgery. Then, back at our hotel, and coming upon midnight (which is seven hours later in the day compared to Utah) my fingers, instead of my Lent writing, tapped a message on my phone and sent it to every faithful member of our ward back in Farmington. 

I've done this before, called upon our friends to offer prayer on behalf of other friends. I've seen it do a number of things:

First, it uses the tool of united faith, which we believe is powerful.

Second, it binds us in spirit to the person for whom we pray.

Third, it binds us to our Lord as we acknowledge his ultimate power and our need for him.

Fourth, it binds us to each other, as worshipers in common.

We are a better unit of saints because we unite this way. We are sealed together in one heart and one mind.

So tonight I will keep my photos and thoughts for another day, and try to share tomorrow. We leave early morning to catch the ferry to Ireland, so I will allow my body to get a few hours sleep. But before then, for sure, my good husband and I... and my good sister and her good husband, will be whispering the name of Kathy Oleson before our Lord.