What I Believe: Grateful for Opposition in All Things

Almost sounds wrong to say that.  But it's true.

I may not always look forward to opposition in all things....and I do stress all, at least that's how the cookie always seems to crumble for the Ranch.  Regardless, of whether I welcome opposition or not, I AM grateful for it.

Why?  (That is the great and universal question, is it not?)

Without opposition, there's so much we would miss out on. 
Frankly, I'm grateful for the growth that comes from facing opposition...personal, political, religiously, familial, and even within our own bodies.

For instance:
I may not be a mom to many, but  
I am able to be a good mom to one. 

I may not have the capacity to physically carry a child in my womb any longer, but I do have the capacity within my heart to care for those children in our family's life (including friends, nieces, & nephews). 

I may not be able to attend General Conference in Salt Lake City or my own local bi-county fair without having to face factions of persecution & dodge protesters because of my religion, but I can walk through the doors of my local meetinghouse and partake of the Sacrament & freely worship.... I can still partake of the peace in the Holy Temple.... I can still kneel in supplication & offer prayers to my Heavenly Father.... I can still exercise the power of Christ's Atonement in my life. 

Without opposition in ALL things, would I even know it was possible to still do what I can? 
Would I value and hold sacred what I CAN do?

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility." 

-2 Nephi 2:11

I spent some time "not walking as closely with the Lord as I should have" (as Mini-Me would mildly put it).  In that time, life felt 'easier' according to the world's standards.  Why?  Because I wasn't try to swim against the current.  I was just staying afloat with Society....there's not much opposition when all you're doing it keeping the status quo.  Therefore, there was no growth.

When there is no growth, there is no progress....where there is no progress, well, there is no plateauing even.  Movement in this life is required.  It is a law of nature.  So, where there is no progression, there is regression, frailty, brittleness,....atrophy. 

Picture a rose shrivelling up, whithering away. 
That's what it felt like to avoid opposition and just bend with the whims of society.
It becomes a lonely state to be in...a scary state of being.  It was a state in I realized I did not want to remain in.

"And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient."

-Moses 5:11

Much like the legendary Phoenix who rose from the ashes....would the phoenix have been as big of a deal if it had not overcome in the end?  Or if it had never had to endure the fire?  Nope.

Therefore, I applaud Heavenly Father's recognition of our need for growth during this earthly experience....which, of course, required opposition in ALL things.  I will forever be grateful for the blessing of growth in my life, and in that of my family and friends....

(He is so caring....He's thought of everything...He's provided everything... He truly is an awesome God!)