Melleny Magill, our ward’s primary president, shared a spiritual thought during our ward council. She ran the St. George Marathon held on October 7, 2023, with 8,000 other folks. Melleny said that somewhere around mile 21 she noticed something in the road up ahead of her. “Is that a body?” she wondered. As she ran closer to the object, she could tell that the blob on the road really was a body!
Melleny immediately ran to the woman to see if she needed help. Apparently, dehydrated, the woman fell to the pavement and just lay there. Another runner stopped and helped Melleny assess the situation. Melleny woke the woman and told her she had to stay awake and get up. The marathon medical van pulled up shortly afterward, and the driver helped Melleny and the other runner help the woman into the van. The woman immediately flopped over onto the seat. She was in such bad shape. Melleny shared her initial findings with the driver, emphasizing that the woman needed medical attention, including an IV.
Melleny began running her marathon again. She thought about how many people had passed the woman and wondered why no one else had stopped. She had been with a group who were qualifying for the Boston Marathon and knew that finishing times were important for the runners. They had various personal goals. They knew the medical van would drive by at some point.
The circumstances caused Melleny to consider how she pauses to help in “regular life.” Did she pause to help others when it was inconvenient or interrupted her plans?
Of course, her experience caused me to wonder the same thing. The impact of her care and concern felt so profound.
After she finished her thoughts, I asked Melleny if she’d been trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon like the other runners and, if so, did she? She didn’t include that information in her story, and didn’t plan to—but I really wanted to know. Melleny said she missed the qualifying time by three minutes. But that was okay because she’d find another qualifying marathon to run.
Three minutes. Obviously, that time passed as she stopped on the side of the road to help a stranger needing help.
I talked to Melleny about it again after ward council. Melleny was absolutely unbothered by her sacrifice. She loves running, apparently, so was happy to run another marathon. (All of that seems so foreign to me who does not run.) Melleny humbly retold the story primarily to share how she’d felt prompted to consider her daily motivations and how she perceives the needs of those around her.
Of course, Melleny’s experience reminded me of the Parable of the Good Samaritan!
The Good Samaritan
I thought of myself like the lawyer who wanted to justify himself, the race in the desert as the robbers, the passersby as other runners and observers, and Melleny and the other runner who stopped as the Samaritan.
But he, willing to himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my ?
And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
But a certain , as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had on him,
And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took of him.
For behold, they had rather their lives … because of their love towards their brethren.
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