Synchronicity, after a prolonged period of great intensity, has for the most part returned to baseline levels in my life. These random walks, though, always seem to bring syncs. The first thing that caught my eye was a cell phone accessory shop with two big signs that said "L.D.S."
This apparently represented the three syllables of the shop's name, Ladesign, but of course the usual meaning of LDS is Latter-day Saints, a.k.a. Mormons.
Two minutes later, I passed a shop with a sign that said "D&C: Path to A Healthy Life."
Seeing this right after "L.D.S.," I naturally thought of the Mormon meaning of D&C -- The Doctrine and Covenants, a volume of scripture used along with the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
Two is a coincidence, but three is a pattern, so I began wondering whether a third Mormon-related shop sign would turn up soon. Three minutes later (these time periods are exact, based on timestamps on the photos I took), I found this:
The Mormon connection may not be immediately obvious here, but that logo shows a large building next to a tree bearing white fruit. This corresponds to the Book of Mormon's most iconic image: Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life. In this vision, the Tree bears fruit which is "most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted" and "white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen" (1 Ne. 8:11). Nearby, across the river from the Tree, is "a great and spacious building" (1 Ne. 8:26).
Recall that the second Mormon-looking sign I had seen said "Path to A Healthy Life." Another important element in Lehi's vision was "the path which led to the tree" (1 Ne. 8:22). Since the tree in question is the Tree of Life, the path could be called the Path to Life.
The sign with the tree bearing white fruit and the great and spacious building said "apple 203 brunch." I thought that the number could be read as a scripture reference -- either 20:3 (chapter 20, verse 3) or 2:03 (chapter 2, verse 3) -- and wondered if any verses with such references were relevant. Searching the Bible for the word apple, I found this:
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste (Song of Solomon 2:3).
"His fruit was sweet to my taste" is very close to the language of Lehi's vision.
Besides the white tree and the building, the sign also features a hamburger the bun of which is an apple. The apple has been cut in half and now serves as "bread." This ties in with another 203 scripture:
And it came to pass that he brake bread again and blessed it, and gave to the disciples to eat (3 Ne. 20:3).
This is Jesus, and he later states that the bread represents himself: "He that eateth this bread eateth of my body" (3 Ne. 20:8). When Nephi sees his own version of the Tree of Life vision, it is strongly implied that the Tree represents Mary and the fruit is Jesus. (See 1 Ne. 11:20-21.) Jesus is both the Fruit of Life and the Bread of Life, so the fruit serving as bread on the sign makes sense.
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