Two weeks ago I got a call from my boss who had fallen ill and was offering me two concert tickets to see a Big Thief show beginning in 20 minutes. I called up my most spontaneous friend and quickly zipped down to the Urban Lounge for a night of music and dancing.

After the concert, just as I was pulling into my friend’s driveway a massive shadow swooped in front of our car and alighted on the light post in her yard. We marveled at the beauty of the bird and the rarity of the sighting, both agreeing that it had been years since either of us had heard, let alone seen an owl.

The following morning my boss was telling me about how much better she felt and how glad she was that I had a good time at the concert. She then mentioned that how, when she had returned home, an owl had flown right past her and landed in her yard when she got out of her car. I was struck by the sheer coincidence of these two events occurring nearly simultaneously but didn’t dwell on it long, as I was flying to San Diego that afternoon to visit an old friend.

My friend’s family is LDS and I was pleasantly struck by how close they seemed to be and well they seemed to get on. It was something I wanted to encourage more of within my own family, I decided. The mother and father of my friend drove me to the airport on the final day and on the drive, they expressed how they had always wanted to expose me to their religion, but that it had never felt like an appropriate time until now. They gave me a Book of Mormon with a personal inscription and explained how valuable their faith was to their family. If I was interested I should read the book.

I have never been a religious person and have, in fact, been very suspicious of people who claim to have all the answers and who tell me that my life is in need of saving. Nonetheless, I appreciated the thoughtfulness of their gesture and the respect with which they offered it to me.

Landing back in Salt Lake City I was greeted by a very cheerful Lyft driver — also LDS — who was keen to understand my perspective of the religion, having grown up non-religious in a very LDS community.

Later that night as I lay in bed I was struck by a very strong feeling to go closer to the church. I had just met two different groups of very reasonable representatives of the religion whose values seemed to correspond with the changes that I wanted to make in my own life. It couldn’t be a coincidence, perhaps God had put these people in my path.

Then I had a different thought: one of owls. Isn’t it in fact much more unlikely for two people to see an owl on the same night than it is to have two good experiences with Mormons in places where I knew I was going to be around them and in a place like Salt Lake City, which has a high concentration of Mormons?

We place unnecessary significance on those coincidences that have to do with religion. When we experience an unlikely event that is in any way tied to life, death or religion we are more inclined to believe that there is a purpose behind it — some divine hand guiding events. Yet, this is illogical. As a species, we have chosen to assign significance to coincidences not based on statistical significance, but on emotion. In fact, it is statistically less likely for you to be the 1,000,001 customer to enter a store but people only celebrate being number 1,000,000. We have attached significance to this number where none really exists. It is important to always keep an open mind and not to be swayed by emotions alone.

While I did not choose to suddenly become a Mormon, I have chosen to make a conscious effort to be closer to my family and friends, something I admire about the Mormon religion.

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