Practice Revelation

I had an extremely peculiar thing happen to me a couple of days ago. Although it was meaningless in itself, it had deep spiritual significance and an interesting lesson.

We were visiting some family and we get up earlier than most so we have had an hour or so in the morning where we are just quietly dinking. A son had found two dice and was rolling them. He got a double and crowed softly, “A double!” He rolled some more and got another double. “Two doubles!” Just to mess with him I said it didn’t count because it was his second double and he had rolled two threes. Then he got his next double and it was two twos so I told him that didn’t count either.

We were just laughing with each other a little bit and I told him that to win the game he had to have a roll of doubles that was the same number as the sequence of doubles that he achieved. The fourth double didn’t do it and the fifth double didn’t do it. I told him that the sixth double was his only chance to win. He had to roll two sixes.

As he started rolling I had a definite spiritual impression that he was going to roll two sixes. I just knew it was going to happen. It took a while. He kept rolling and not getting any doubles at all. When we had both just about decided that this game was no longer worth the juice and were about to pack it in, he rolled a double: a six and a six: and we both burst out in cheers.

I’m thinking to myself, “Why would I get a definite spiritual impression here?” It seems very strange to me.

I have a couple of thoughts that I think are meaningful.

1. It’s nice to be able to practice receiving revelation (what the Spirit feels like) on something where your own desires and wishes aren’t at play. Sometimes it’s easier to see what the Spirit is like when you’re not asking for the Spirit. I had something similar happen many years ago when I received a revelation about a BYU game, which absolutely came true, but I was not praying about the BYU game and not thinking about praying. Yet the answer came on something that has no deep spiritual significance. Sorry BYU fans. I haven’t really had an explanation for it.

2. The other insight is that it’s connected to the same reason why small prayers for small things, like daily hiccups and lost items, are often promptly and egregiously answered, in your face, whereas the big questions I have about major life decisions and life challenges often go without any felt spiritual response. I think he wants us to know that he is there and cares even about the fall of a sparrow and an idle throw of dice but he also wants us to struggle and learn. He affirms his presence while letting our prayers for explicit guidance go unanswered (though I think that the prayers are answered in other ways). That way we know it is not through indifference or absence that we are not getting explicit instructions on what to do, but through his choice. Because the wrestle with reality is at least for me and also for many others part of the covenant path.