Light in the Wilderness Ch. 3

I'm back!  After the holidays and getting back into normal life after the holidays (it seemed to take longer than usual for me), I'm finally ready to get writing again.  We'll see how much I actually do, but the intentions are there at least.

So, first off, before I do anything else, I have to report on our last Light in the Wilderness discussion.  It was a full month and a half ago, but still pertinent.  :-)

The question of the day: 

ARE YOU SPIRITUALLY BIPOLAR?

We know how things are:  one moment we're on a "spiritual high" and the next minute we're feeling low.  On one given day a child's behavior may cause us to react with love and kindness, while on another day the same behavior could make us fly off the handle.  It's our responsibility to create an environment within our hearts where the gaps are not quite so drastic.

The first key to developing such an environment is to discover the true nature of God and our standing as His offering.  Moses learned this with His interactions with God and then with Satan.  He knew the difference and was able to courageously act accordingly.

M. Catherine Thomas distinguishes for us the difference between the "real you" and the "flesh you."  The "real you" does not have ailments, our reactions to the ailments reveal our spiritual weaknesses.  The REAL YOU is the one that God sees, the one that God intends us to be, our true potential, our divinity.

We must also recognize the purposes for a mortal body.  Elder Bednar in his talk on chastity states, "Our physical bodies make possible a breadth, a depth, and an intensity of experience that simply could not be obtained in our premortal existence."

Likewise, one member of our group put it this way, "Struggling with the physical while seeking the spiritual strengthens our spiritual more than just being spiritual could."

Happiness comes as we align the mortal with the spiritual.  We can't fight or "kick against the pricks" while struggling with physical or temporal situations.  We must take those experiences to learn from them, to become more like our Savior.

We can also create an environment of peace within as we realize that the thickness of the veil may very well be within our control.  The Lord could not refrain from revealing Himself to the brother of Jared because the brother of Jared exerted that much faith.  Likewise in our lives, the more we turn to God and put our trust and faith in Him, the more we'll see with spiritual eyes the things around us.

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Next Discussion:
Monday, January 27th
Chapter 4: The Wilderness Mind