Editor’s note: “The Spoken Word” is shared by Derrick Porter each Sunday during the weekly Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square broadcast. This will be given Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. This week is No. 5,017 of the broadcast.
It’s estimated that more than 117 billion people have lived on earth. And with more than 8 billion people alive today, there’s no question — the world is a big place. (See “How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth?” Population Reference Bureau, Nov. 15, 2022, www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth.)
Yet we often hear the phrase “It’s a small world,” especially when unexpected connections occur in implausible ways. The world may call these moments coincidences. And perhaps some are. But often, God, in His divine foresight, helps us meet the very people we need or who need us for an important moment and reason.
The late Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles once wrote: “Recall the new star that announced the birth at Bethlehem? It was in its precise orbit long before it so shone. We are likewise placed in human orbits to illuminate” (“Encircled in the Arms of His Love,” Ensign or Liahona, November 2002, page 17).
One of the ways God brings about His work is through people — people helping people. Often, prayers for relief are answered through someone else: a person divinely placed in human orbit to love, to lift, to serve.
Once, during a layover between flights, I met an airline employee named Lucy. As we talked, I learned she was from Kenya and had experienced a difficult life. She had been raising two children on her own. One of them, a 4-year-old son, had recently passed away after a severe illness. Yet as Lucy told me her story, I couldn’t help but notice that she was beaming! Her voice was calm, her smile contagious. She was bright beyond measure.
“How are you so happy?” I asked. She responded: “Because I believe that my little boy is watching me from heaven. He’s cheering me on.”
Lucy’s confidence that she knew she would see her son again touched me deeply. I had just lost my younger sister to an untimely death. And there I was, in an airport far from home, being comforted and having my spirit renewed by the faith of a stranger.
As we said goodbye, Lucy added: “I wasn’t scheduled to be working tonight. But I told my friend, ‘You have been here all day. I will cover the last part of your shift.’”
We both smiled. This was no accident. Heaven had arranged our meeting.
I boarded the plane, strengthened by her faith, and gave thanks to God for the divine orbits of our lives that connect us with others in moments that matter.
Tuning in …
The “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast is available on KSL-TV, KSL News Radio 1160AM/102.7FM, KSL.com, BYUtv, BYUradio, Dish and DirecTV, SiriusXM (Ch. 143), tabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/TheTabernacleChoir and Amazon Alexa (must enable skill). The program is aired live on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time on these outlets. Look up broadcast information by state and city at musicandthespokenword.com/viewers-listeners/airing-schedules.
