I’m familiar with the concept of opposition and it’s importance in our lives. I even spent a number of days studying Lehi’s comments on opposition recently. So it comes as a great surprise to me that I feel like I just discovered how important opposition really can be.
The whole time we were at the campout last weekend I was marveling at what a good time we were having and how different everything felt from the last year. It wasn’t until we were on our way home that I realized--
If we hadn’t gone on the miserable campout last year,
we never would have known how great the one this year was.
And even more importantly, we wouldn’t realize how different we now feel in and about this ward.
As silly as it sounds, I was a little stunned by this realization—that there was actually a benefit to having had such a miserable time last year. That we needed to have had that really rotten experience.
I guess I’d really rather have my opposition be theoretical, or maybe learned from other people’s experiences. But I’m seeing today in a new way that sometimes we need to have our own negative experiences because they provide a contrast and frame of reference that we wouldn’t have gotten any other way…
(here we are smiling and enjoying our time together, but still pretty lonely…)
Posts
I agree, so much. Going through terrible times really does make the great times sweeter.
ReplyDeleteI love your sweatshirts. I still remember when Doug's brother and wife came up to see us and we went to the coast. They hadn't brought any warm clothes...it was August after all. We ended up buying sweatshirts in the Tillamook Gift Shop because they were absolutely FREEZING!
ReplyDelete