An E.M. Bounds Synchronicity

What a pleasant and peaceful Saturday. Older daughter is keeping us updated with text messages from the state track meet in Des Moines, where the team she coaches is involved, plus some runners from our local school district. Wow, a perfect day for that! Older son and his girlfriend headed to a nearby state park for some hiking and a picnic. Younger daughter......well, who knows where she is......at graduation parties, probably. Younger son......he's here at home shooting hoops. Husband......snoring on the living room floor.

Found out yesterday that our neighbor lady hasn't been feeling well, so I just got back from walking over there with a casserole. Unfortunately, no one was home, and with their snarly spitz dog barking at me from inside I decided not to try and go in and put the pan in the fridge. I'll just have to drive over there later. The one and 1/2 mile walk was pleasant, although the casserole basket got very heavy, and I felt like Little Red Riding Hood.

Along the way, in the roadside ditch are blooming patches of Sweet William, a wildflower whose proper name is Prairie Phlox, I believe. Their colors varied from white to lavendar to fuchsia. Very lovely!

Yesterday an interesting little synchronicity occurred when I was shopping in the Christian bookstore. I had stopped there to try and find a graduation gift for my daughter. Always when there, I like to glance over the bargain book table. I quickly scanned the titles, not really looking for anything in particular. For some reason, one book title jumped out at me......The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer. I thought to myself....."Who is E.M. Bounds? That's an odd name." Then I walked on over to the bookmark rack to browse. The store was very quiet and I soon became aware of a conversation nearby between an older male customer and a store clerk. The customer was asking, "Do you have any books by E.M. Bounds?" He must have been looking on the regular bookshelves. The clerk replied that she would go look in the back room. Being quite interested by then, I listened for what she said when she returned....."No, we don't have any books by E.M. Bounds right now." I then stepped around the shelves to where the man was standing and I took him over to the bargain book table and showed him the book by E.M. Bounds. Later, I noticed that he did purchase it. The clerk asked him where he had found it and he told her. Anyway, it must have been meant to be that he have that book!

This morning I googled "E.M. Bounds". His full name was Edward McKendree Bounds and he lived from 1835 to 1913, and was a Methodist pastor in the southern U.S. His great focus in life was prayer. He used to pray every morning from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m., during what he called the "great-while-before-day" hour. He wrote several books on prayer, and the book I saw was a compilation of all of them. Maybe I'll take a closer look at it next time I'm at the bookstore.

For anyone who doesn't believe in synchronicity, or thinks it is something that new agers came up with, I am here to tell you that it does occur, and the above incident is a prime example. This is not the first time I've experienced such a thing. I had known over the years that many odd things had happened in my life and finally while reading a book one time, I ran across the word "synchronicity" and its meaning, and then many things became clear to me. The ancient Greeks knew about it and some physicists today even study this phenomenon; possibly quantum physics is involved. Be mindfully aware and pay attention to what is going on around you. These types of "meaningful coincidences" are occurring all the time, but most of us just never notice!