Rain. Rain.

Earlier this week I found myself wondering, 'What did I do to be so richly blessed?' The answer came to me fast enough. Honestly, my efforts are feeble & absolutely insufficient for the blessings I receive, but I am trying & for that the windows of heaven are open. The prophecy is true. I have not room enough to receive it.

Today, I was in charge of reading a book to the children at the preschool & organizing an activity to go with it. I have been working on this assignment since I began my practicum at the end of February (oh wow, has is really been that long...where did the time go??). I knew the second I found out about the assignment what book I was going to read, my favorite since I was the age of the children that I am teaching - The Legend of the Bluebonnet. It is the tale of a young Comanche girl who has lost her whole family to famine. All she has left of them is a little warrior doll that they made for her. The shaman of the tribe speaks to the great spirits & they tell him that the people are too selfish. In order for the drought to end, they must sacrifice their most valued possession. Everyone denies that it is their possession that is wanted. Everyone except this young girl. So, she burns her doll, and scatters the ashes to the wind. The next day she wakes up and the ground is covered in beautiful blue flowers that are the same color as the feathers in her dolls hair. That day the rains come.

Since I was old enough to recognize how precious this selfless gift was, I have only made it through reading it 3 times without crying. Today marked one of those exceptions. That in itself was a miracle, but it gets better. For the activity, I decided to do a rain dance with the children. I spent hours & hours, days & days researching Comanche beliefs & practices, watching videos of rain dances on youtube & contemplating & planning how to make the activity developmentally appropriate for 4 & 5 year-olds. It was a daunting task. The story had a few complicated elements, quite a few terms that the children were unfamiliar with, a culture and religion that they've had little(if any) exposure to, and I also felt the need to keep the activity reverent as a rain dance is basically a form of prayer.

So many things could have gone wrong. I considered them all over the last month and a week. I put in so much effort to prevent error because this story & activity really did mean just that much to me. I want everyone to be able to see the beauty of the Legend as I do. I printed off visuals. I practiced in front of my mirror both giving the presentation, reading the story, & doing the dance itself. Still, one misstep & I could have lost the children's attention.

To top it all off, weather forecast for today: snow/rain/lots of precipitation. So many times today I stopped and said a silent prayer that it would hold off until after we did our dance. I wanted the children to have that witness that their dance really did work. Even if they could not quite grasp it, we as teachers would know, & receive a beautiful witness that prayers are answered.

Here is what did happen:

As I walked up the stairs, saying my silent prayer all the way & glancing hesitantly up at the overcast sky, I spotted my dear friend coming down the stairs towards me. She gave me the added courage I needed to know that everything was going to be just fine. That was miracle #1.

Miracle #2: My co-teachers=amazing. That's all I need to say about that.

Miracle #3: As I began to read the book, the children were riveted. They asked meaningful questions. They really got into it. "Did she ever get her doll back?" asked one absolutely adorable little girl with concern. 'No,' I said in response, 'but she had the beautiful flowers that were the same color as the feathers in the doll's hair, and they reminded her of everything she had lost.'

Miracle #4: The dance went splendidly. I heard children randomly chanting, "We need the rain. Please bring the rain. Rain. Rain" throughout the remainder of the afternoon. One child was so fascinated with it, she kept asking questions, and talking with everyone she saw about how she remembered to do the rain motions when she danced.

Miracle #5: Right as the children left our activity to go to their outside time, it began to rain. It lasted only a short minute. I wasn't even outside yet. I didn't see the rain myself, but I knew my prayers had been answered - every single one of them.

Trust me when I say this is only the beginning of the miracles that I've seen this week. I cannot tell you how much my heart swells with gratitude acknowledging the source of all this goodness. In marriage prep last week we were discussing the "world village." If the world was reduced to a hundred people who were statistically representative of the whole of population, only 1 person in the village would have a college education. Why am I being so richly blessed? Only 7 would have more than 2 pairs of shoes. Why am I being so richly blessed? Only 5-6 would have money in their bank account. Why am I being so richly blessed? Only 54 would have clean drinking water. WHY AM I BEING SO RICHLY BLESSED? I cannot answer that question except to leave you with this quote as a partial answer,

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated — And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." D&C 130:20-21

I guess that means that I must be doing something right. I'll have to make sure to keep doing it, and remember each moment how easily all of it can be taken away. We are given blessings so that we might bless others & if I am not doing that, then I don't deserve them anyway.