There is a skill we will be getting to soon in class. It is called "opposite action" and I started reading about it several weeks ago. Yes, I know, overachiever. I'm not going to get too much into it, I will save that for when we actually get there in class, yet the concept is pretty much as it sounds - do the opposite.
An example would be this darn depression that our winter weather has not helped much. If I could hide in bed all day and never get up, I would be content. I don't want to get up, I don't want to interact with anyone or anything, and I just want life to go away and leave me alone. Then I roll over, take a deep breath, and tell myself to get up. Yes, I would love to hibernate, yet is this really the healthiest choice I can make? Get up, get dressed, go interact with something. Face your fears. So I do and the next day when I don't want to get up again, I get up. This is a pretty basic explanation of it.
It has been one of those days. I survived the holiday, not quite sure for the days afterwards. I'm stir crazy from being in the house, I feel trapped as the roads are not safe to be out on (yah, learned that the willful way today), and the emotional/mental demons are having an after hours party, and I pretty much hate life. I have found myself more than once teetering on the ledge today. After one too many "what the hell are you doing?" moments, I just went to bed. Slept some of it, tossed the rest. Six hours later, I told myself that I was stronger than this - get up and face it. Get up, get dressed, find an opposite emotion, and run with it...preferably before I did something I would regret.
Seeing that I am usually good for a story, how about one? If we are going with opposite action, I guess I need to identify where I am at the moment. That's simple, feeling angry, worthless, and crappy. Hey, are we impressed how my vocabulary is growing? Now, don't judge me, I do not usually tell stories when I am in this kind of mood and seeing that emotions affect writing, I have no clue where this will go. Seat belts on? Let's ride.
The capital city of Salta, Argentina is in this huge valley. When you come in on Rte 9, you come in from up in the mountains. As you turn through a curve, you see the whole city below - every building, every road, and every home. Not a detail can be missed from your vantage point. It is quite a spectacular sight with the Andes mountains surrounding it (especially when they are snow-capped). I probably experienced that drive and view about 6-8 times in the year I was there, yet all these years later, I can still close my eyes and see it. It was magnificent and there was always something familiar and welcoming about it.
I am believer that everyone has a role and a purpose in this life. Yes, we have our free agency to choose what we will and will not do with our lives, yet I believe everyone has a one. No one is "just here." I believe we knew our roles and purposes and even excited in them long before we came to this life. The tricky part comes trying to figure it out once we get here. Yet, we are promised that if we will seek diligently and ask God in faith, that we can come to know that purpose (and more). Think about it, if we able to get to a point where we can see ourselves as God sees us, why can we not know our purpose too (or a part of it)?
I often think that the landscape at the Great Council in Heaven was kind of like the Salta valley. All the spirits of heaven gathered together in one place to hear the plan of salvation and how it would play out. All gathered in a great valley, surrounded by amazing mountains. Maybe that is why Argentina always felt like home.
Have you ever met someone for the first time or caught a glance of
someone from afar and felt that you knew them? Spirit to spirit we all know each other, we all knew each other,
and once in a while we recognize each other. It is kind of neat of you
think of it at that level.
At the Great Council, I wonder how many in the multitude looked upon the mountains? I believe not everyone
was gathered below. I
more than believe it, I know it. Even in the heavens before this life,
we had roles and purposes.
Just as in Salta, from the tops of the mountains one could see the whole valley. Upon the multiple ledges were warriors, thousands of them - great spirits who had been give charge over a population of the spirits below. In full armor, they stood on high learning the names of them who they would come to adopt as their own in the spiritual battles that lied ahead in the next life. The warriors were the protectors and their responsibility was, through inspiration and guidance, to find and help guide their charges back to heaven. Although great in number, the warriors knew one another and knew they would be blessed on earth that at times their spirits would recognize one another if they just listen.
Being a warrior comes with its own price. Great is the calling, and great are the struggles. In the eyes of Satan, a warrior is a 12-foot shiny trophy. If he can take down a warrior, he has easier dominion over their charges. If he can make a warrior forget their purpose, the distraction only benefits him.
Even as the great warriors may get hurt in battle, they also heal and I believe they come out stronger than they were to start with. They stand up, fix what they need to fix, look unto the heavens in prayer and meditation, and start to get back to work. They seek, find, teach, heal, guide, and lead by example. They continually watch and pray not only to find their charges, yet to know how to strengthen them once found. They rejoice often and they mourn at a level most don't understand. They often feel very alone, yet they not. None of us are.
Every spirit has warriors watching over them, and every warrior does not fight alone. It is part of the great plan. In one role or another, we keep fighting the fight.
