Messy Mortality With Its Magical Moments

In recent weeks, headlines have highlighted the horrific and heartbreaking. From wars to hurricanes, to bitter election conflict, the news feeds feed fear not faith. Messy mortality seems to eclipse many moments of magic.

There seems to be little to uplift and inform. But God sent us to earth to experience joy. “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25).

Magic Amid Messiness

When Hurricane Helene hit a portion of the Tennessee Knoxville Mission, many missionaries were displaced and left homeless. But there was human magic in this messy mortality. Two senior couples stepped in to help and house these 40 elders and sisters. With gas stations drained of fuel, cell service down, and basic supplies running low, these homeless missionaries didn’t sit and wallow but set out to serve other North Carolinians with clean-up and help.

 The mess from the hurricane will take weeks to manage and clean up, but the miracles and magic from helping hands, including these 18 to 22-year-old missionaries, will be felt for generations to come.

Magic in God’s Plan

Elder Hales has assured us,

Brothers and sisters, mortality works! It is designed to work! Despite the challenges, heartaches, and difficulties we all face, our loving, wise, and perfect Heavenly Father has designed the plan of happiness such that we are not destined to fail. His plan provides a way for us to rise above our mortal failures. The Lord has said, “This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

In the wake of tragedy, we often see families, communities, and countries coming together in more unity and love. Perhaps the magic of life is not only possible in the wake of big messes but actually facilitated by the pitfalls.

We may feel like saying to God “Enough is enough!  I can’t do one more thing. I can’t survive another heartbreak, job loss, or cancer diagnosis!” He hears you. He loves you. He believes in you. He wants to meet you in your messy mortality. Elder Hirst gave us an incredible perspective:

I wonder, if Jesus were to choose a place where you and He could meet, a private place where you would be able to have a singular focus on Him, might He choose your unique place of personal suffering, the place of your deepest need, where no one else can go? Somewhere you feel so lonely that you must truly be all alone but you aren’t quite, a place to which perhaps only He has travelled but actually has already prepared to meet you there when you arrive? If you are waiting for Him to come, might He already be there and within reach?

Magic as Reality

I loved watching a good magic show as a child. In curiosity, I would try and study the magician’s hands and figure out how he could pull a rabbit out of a hat. But the work of God is not about this artificial magic. God’s magic can consecrate everything in our messy mortality for our good and create beauty from ashes. Our God is a mighty God. As Brad Wilcox expressed it powerfully,

Your covenant relationship with God and Jesus Christ is a relationship of love and trust in which you have access to a greater measure of Their grace—Their divine assistance, endowment of strength, and enabling power. That power is not just wishful thinking, a lucky charm, or a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is real.

I witness that when you keep your covenants, they will keep you. Through the Atonement of Christ, messy mortality can be a meaningful miracle. And that is more than just magic— it is magnificent.