Sabbath Devotional :: Tender Mercies

A view of the Philadelphia skyline from the Delaware River shoreline, taken at the site visit I mention in this devotional.

For much of the last week, I got about 5 hours of sleep a night due to a couple of intense weeks in my grad program. On Friday, we had a planned site visit to study the location where we’ll be designing projects for class throughout the semester, and I had volunteered to drive several classmates for the morning visit before our full day of class. I usually utilize public transit or walk to and from school, but due to the nature of some of my assignments, I had previously run a couple of errands further afield during the week and noticed the tire pressure light had come on in my car. I didn’t have time to deal with it that night, but knew I should probably top off my air prior to the Friday site visit (I could just picture it: me and four classmates dealing with a flat tire during rush-hour traffic on one of the interstates in Philly).

On Thursday night I still had several more hours of work to do for class the next day, but as it got later and later, I was less and less motivated to go out in the cold and then find a gas station that was open and populated enough to visit late at night and not seem sketchy. The street parking in my neighborhood notoriously becomes scarce the later it gets at night, so since it was already pretty late I knew I would also probably have to park a few blocks away, and then plan to move my car in the morning, adding further frustrations for my exhausted self. The night before, I had managed to find a parking space right outside my building and was able to carry my load of project supplies, groceries, and big pack of toilet paper (all balanced very precariously, I’m not the only person who does this, right?) straight inside and not down several blocks or have to double park and shuttle things with multiple trips.

So I finally geared up to deal with this nuisance errand at the worst possible timing. I went, filled my tires, my indicator light turned off, and I drove back home. Miraculously, my same parking spot was still open — this has never happened to me, ever, and when I left there had been a few cars double-parked further down the street so I assumed one of those cars would naturally take the space. But I felt so grateful for this momentary reprieve and tender mercy, something as simple as a parking space. Amidst the stress of the rest of my week, it smoothed some turbulence just a tiny bit and saved me some time when I was really short on time.

I share this because on its face, this experience is a simple and unassuming coincidence — finding the perfect parking space, no big deal. But in the context of my beyond exhausting and stressful week, it was a loving sign from my Heavenly parents that they are aware of me and the minute details of my life, and it was a tender mercy that allowed me to pause and express my gratitude.

Two of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon (of which I have so many) speak to these sort of tender mercies:

1 Nephi 1:20 “But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.”

Moroni 10:3 “Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.”

I have always been struck that the Book of Mormon opens and closes with these two verses, bookend references to God’s [tender] mercies. Further, I have always loved that these verses invite our recognition of and pondering on these tender mercies. I think it can be easy to chalk up these experiences to luck or coincidence, but taken in the context of our lives and our belief, I think the timing is never just luck, and the nature of the thing is never just coincidence. I have had so many small experiences that reiterate this to me again and again. This small moment this week was the latest reminder.