Revelatory Practical Jokes

Jens and the Pond is my favorite story, bar none, from conference.

Jens of Denmark prays daily to live the gospel and notice promptings from the Holy Ghost. He has learned to act quickly when he feels directed by the Spirit.

Jens shared the following:

“We live in an idyllic, small, half-timbered house with a thatched roof, in the center of a cozy little village, close to the village pond.

“On this night with the most beautiful Danish summer weather imaginable, doors and windows were open, and everything breathed peace and quiet. Due to our gloriously bright and long summer nights, I had not been in a hurry to replace a burned-out light bulb in our utility room.

“Suddenly, I got a strong feeling that I had to replace it immediately! At the same time, I heard my wife, Mariann, call for me and the children to wash our hands because dinner was ready!

“I had been married long enough to know that this was not the time to start doing anything else than washing my hands, but I heard myself calling out to Mariann that I would just pop over to the store to buy a new light bulb. I felt a strong urge to leave immediately.

“The grocery store was only on the other side of the pond. We usually walked, but today I grabbed my bike. While riding past the pond, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a small boy, about two years old, walking alone near the edge of the pond, very close to the water—suddenly he fell in! One minute he was there—and the next he was gone!

“No one had seen this happen but me. I threw my bike on the ground, ran, and jumped into the waist-high pond. The surface of the water immediately closed with duckweed, making it impossible to see through the water. Then I sensed a movement to one side. I put my arm in the water, got hold of a T-shirt, and pulled the little boy up. He started gasping, coughing, and crying. Soon afterward the boy was reunited with his parents.”

Its idyllic, inspired, but most of all God being funny.  Why not just tell Jens to go rescue the kid?  It strikes me as divine humor.

Either that, or we must suppose that there is some reason in divine economy why it is easier to reveal items about quotidian concerns to us.

Which brings me to D&C 111.  A con man tells Joseph he knows where there is buried treasure in Salem, Massachussetts.  Joseph prays, God tells him, yep, there’s treasure there.  So Joseph goes out.  Except when he gets there he finds that ha ha the treasure is a treasure of souls.

Same thing.