Wow, I had such a wonderful weekend recently! We had two family reunions, one with my side of the family, and one with my DH’s side. All during the same weekend! DH’s reunion was for four days! I know it sounds crazy, but it was to make up for having the last reunion four years ago. The reunions used to be every 2-3 years. My husband is one of nine siblings. Eight out of the nine were there, along with many of their descendants. On Sunday, my DH’s family reunion official meeting didn’t start until 5 PM so I was able to squeeze in a reunion for my side from 1-4 PM, since my sister from Maine was in town with her DH and kiddos. I had all three of my married children with each spouse in town for DH’s reunion as well, so they got to see my sister and their cousins. I am still basking in the glow of enjoying all these family connections in one weekend!

On Sunday, we went to church with my two married sons and each wife of the respective son. One of the speakers at the church service, Joy, told the most amazing story which we all got to hear.

She said that as a child she fell in love with swimming. As she grew she asked for more and more swimming lessons. In high school she joined the swim team. She realized early on in her athletic career that she wasn’t very athletic. She worked and worked to achieve her goal to go to the district swim meet her senior year. She drilled to do the 100 yard race at the swim meet. Just a few minutes before the big race, a girl who had been mean to her, one of her teammates, asked if she would switch races with Joy. The girl proposed to do the 100 yard and have Joy do the 200 yard race. At first, Joy was about to say, “no!” She was irked that this girl would dare ask to trade when she had been so mean to her. She also felt like she was letting her chance of winning a race slip away because she had only trained for the 100, not the 200. But then she heard the Holy Spirit repeat a three word phrase that Susan had read in the scriptures, “Love your enemies.” So she said “yes,” before she even realized she was saying it.

Joy swam the race and ended up getting her best time yet! She was shocked! Immediately after finding out, she went to the locker room and knelt on the cold slimy cement floor and gave thanks to God for helping her. She shared three lessons from this story:

1. Jesus really is our shepherd. He really is in the details of our lives. He wants to bless us. Sometimes He does give us things we are dreaming about and don’t even ask for.
2. Special blessings come to us when we love our enemies. Joy says she feels she wouldn’t have received that blessing of getting her best time ever if she hadn’t followed the prompting to show love to her enemy.
3. The Law of the Harvest is real. When we practice, we plant seeds to get results.

To top off the goodness of the church services, my oldest son discovered one of his missionary companions was there at church because the speaker, Joy, turns out be his aunt! He was there to listen to her speak. My son and his friend had a great time reconnecting.My son was able to introduce his new bride to his old friend. It was just such a wonderful day all around!