Tender mercies

It was an August Thursday night, a work night, when we made the final preparations to relocate from our home in Provo, Utah, to Las Cruces. As often happens with a move, we were running way behind schedule in getting the moving POD loaded, packing up our vehicles and getting on the road.

Our plan was to drive halfway that night and we had booked a hotel in Gallup. We would stay there and then finish the road trip on Friday. Things didn’t work out exactly as planned.

It was approaching midnight as we frantically scrambled to pack and clean and get on the road. We were fortunately blessed with amazing friends and neighbors, who were right there with us right up to the moment we finally got on the road.

We were leaving town. There was nothing we could do for them, but there they were, sacrificing their time to serve and help us, strapping our load into the POD, helping us stuff two vehicles to the roof. Many of them even returned the next day after we left to do some final cleaning.

During the holiday season this year, I am grateful for friends like that, and so many people who have blessed our lives while we made the move to our new home here in Las Cruces. The welcome we have received here in New Mexico has been equally amazing. It is truly a series of tender mercies, all delivered by people in our lives who have felt inspired to help.

The things that happened in our lives and the way they came about are nothing short of amazing. We decided to build a home in Las Cruces to be near others in our family who already lived here, but at the time we did not know for certain what we would do for employment.

My initial attempt to apply for a job with the Bulletin before we made the move was apparently poorly timed and didn’t work out, but once we got here, things changed and this position became available. Similar things happened in clarifying a position for which my wife had applied and been offered. The timing takes it way past considering it coincidental.

Many years ago, when we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and again a bit later in our lives, in Utah, we were in situations in which finances were tight. In those situations, we had people anonymously assist us. As in all of the occurrences related to this move and so many other blessings in my life, in each case the answers came from ordinary people. Tender mercies delivered by those who felt the desire to step outside their own difficulties and help me.

We live in a world that too often feels divided as we choose sides on so many issues. Too often we feel the need to punctuate that divisiveness with unkind language and angry rhetoric.

During this holiday season, I am grateful for so many we have met here in our new home, who like our friends in our previous locales, are kind and generous and filled with charity. You are truly wonderful people.

My hope for myself this holiday season and beyond, and for all of us, is to strive to be kinder, slower to judge harshly, more understanding, more focuses on what unites than on what divides us, and that we will be ready to be the neighbors and friends who provide the tender mercies someone else desperately seeks.

Thank you for welcoming us to our new home.