As I listened to Nibley this morning, he confirmed what I’d been thinking about — what he called the third dimension. And all though I’ve heard this talk numerous times, it took on new meaning.
“Brigham Young never worried about anything, because he trusted the lord, he had had the visions of his mind open to the eternities, and that makes all the difference in the world, I hope we get to know this third dimension — you won’t get it by philosophizing or anything else, but you will get it by praying and asking the Lord for it and he will open these things up to your mind and when we do everything will look very different.”
Three Gifts
1. Peacock Feather
A few years ago, while walking the dog through a large regional park (with peacocks and ponies), I saw two women walking along, one was holding a peacock feather. Ever since I was a little girl, I have been fascinated by those long colorful feathers. And I wished I could have one too.
My son and I finished our walk, and I asked him to take a picture of the peacocks while I got the dog back in the car. When he caught up with me, he handed me a peacock feather he found on the ground. I remembered my passing thought and desire, which I had not shared with him, but was a sign to me that the Lord was aware of me.
Learning to recognize the hand of God and remembering and being thankful is important. I suppose it is easy to rationalize that it was luck — but it was more.
 2. Seashell
Awhile back, I was fasting for one of my kids, for probably a year or more. Â No matter how much I prayed for a specific request, it seemed we hit dead ends all the time. It was a righteous desire, entirely within the scope of possibilities, but all my prayers could not change the agency of the few in charge of making that happen for my son. I was discouraged; I felt trapped.
I drove to little Corona and walked along the small strip of beach with tide pools — a location I have frequented often for pictures and nature and ocean air. There are a lot of mussel shells on this beach, and sometimes a not so pearly trochus. I always pick up a few shells and take them home with me. On this particular day, I found a medium-sized abalone shell. I have never seen abalone on this beach and never have since. It was as if God had told me he understands that he knows my desires, that my fasts are accepted even though the outcome did not happen as I had envisioned. He was aware of me.
3. Hyrum Smith Table
 On another occasion, a year of fasting gone by, I had gone up to my room, explaining to my husband — “it would be much easier for me to exercise my faith if I could lay hold of something tangible, like Wilford Woodruff’s handkerchief. ”
When Jesus anointed the eyes of the blind man, he used mud and spittle, not for Jesus, but for the blind man to have faith. When Joseph Smith told Wilford Woodruff to go over the river and bless the sick children, he gave him his handkerchief as a token that acted as something tangible between the two men. Wilford crossed the river and healed the sick with the aid of that token. (1839)
“As Joseph was about to cross the river, a man came to him and asked him if he would go about three miles and heal two of his small children, who were twins, about three months old, and were sick nigh unto death. He was a man of the world, he had never heard a sermon preached by a Latter-day Saint. Joseph said he could not go, but he would send a man. After hesitating a moment, he turned to me and said, “You go with this man and heal his children,” at the same time giving me a red silk handkerchief, and said, “After you lay hands upon them, wipe their faces with it, and they shall be healed; and as long as you will keep that handkerchief, it shall ever remain as a league between you and me.” I went and did as I was commanded, and the children were healed. I have possession of the handkerchief unto this day.” (History of Wilford Woodruff)
I thought it would be nice to have something like that handkerchief, something that belonged to someone of greater faith. I rationalized that it would be easier for me to exercise my faith with some tangible element.
Twenty minutes passed, and I received a call from a dear friend of many years, and many trials herself –
“I have something for you. I’m moving and getting rid of stuff in the garage. Â Twenty or so years ago someone stored a table in my garage that was supposedly Hyrum Smith’s table. I’m not sure if it was, but the man never came back for it and I thought you might like it. It needs a table top. And I’ve got a lot of old religious books for you.”
The desires of my heart were answered so quickly, so amazingly too. It seems so simple, yet so unbelievable to a grown-up, so believable to a child. We become so knowledgeable, educated, and dependent on scientific research when we “grow up” that we lose our simple ability to believe in the unseen hand of God. It’s not Santa Clause; it is the hidden world we left behind when we were born as helpless infants into the space we call earth. It’s a glimpse of the third dimension. I need to Recognize, Remember, and Give Thanks.
