Some Thoughts About Mission

This is just some thoughts I've had recently about finding out what your personal mission is, and some thoughts about mine. Some of you might have already heard the first part, I apologize for the redundancy.... :) btw, this post sounds infinitely better if you read it out loud like an Alyssa speech; lots of passion, and expression...and slightly lacking in volume control.

First I will start out by stating, on the most basic level, what I think personal mission is: Each and every one of us choose God's plan, we chose His will, and I believe that before we came to Earth, we sat down with Father in Heaven and together created our mission; Father knew everything, and everyone of us - for even at that time we were individuals, we had passions, we had interests, talents, educations etc, and that was what our mission was based upon.
Simply put, our mission is God's will and ours combined.


Last week I was reading The Return of the King; I love the Lord of the Rings series, there is so much truth and symbolism in them, but there was one thing I could not stand: in the battle of Gondor - at least before the Rohirrim, and Aragorn arrived - there was no hope. No hope in their cause, their noble cause. Not one single person was able to cling to some small vein of hope, while the darkness gathered -- not one person stood to urge them to courage, not one person. Not one!

All was despair.

My heart ached with sorrow for them! With all the energy of my soul I longed to comfort them, I longed to urge them on, I longed to cry out with all the fervor and passion I posses "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage brethren, courage; and on, on to victory!"

All while I was reading, I was composing speeches in my head. Battle cries, battle cries of hope.

After a while, I stepped back and analyzed what I had felt, and as I did so, I thought; Surely this fervent passion was not meant to be an idle one, this burning desire was not kindled to be kept in, for if it has not room to grow, it must die. Nay; this ardent love shan't be a silent one! There will come times when this hope no longer shines in men's hearts, there will be times when men have forgotten trust, when they have laid aside the faith of their fathers: all will seem lost, despair will reign. Then I must speak, then will be my chance to let loose the fire of my passion for hope, a fire that will burn so bright in the hearts of those who hear, that despair cannot stay, but will flee to the dark corners of space where man cannot go, and then will stay, banished in exile, until the whole universe is so full of the light of hope that the darkness of despair cannot help but be destroyed!


This experience also led me to the conclusion that the reason we read classics is - at least partly - to find our mission: as we read we see things that are missing, things that we are passionate about, sometimes things we may not have realized we were passionate about; and we see people, and their missions, we see similarities between their mission and ours, and this helps us to gain greater understanding of our own mission, because we see it in a new light, we see different aspects of our mission, we may even at times see things that warm the flame of passion within us, but, with a sad resignation, realize "that is not where my mission lies."
For example, I also recently read Joan of Arc, by Mark Twain, personality-wise I can very much relate to her, and a huge part of her mission was restoring hope to France. She also led the armies of France, she saved her country from an oppressive enemy. Oh, how I would love to lead the armies of America against those who would seek to destroy my rights, and the freedom of those I love!
And yet, something deep within me gently says, "Alyssa, it's not your place."


More and more lately, I've been learning - and the more I learn, the more excited I become - that "[My] greatest mission is to give life, earth-life, through honorable marriage, to the waiting spirits, our Father’s spirit children who anxiously desire to come to dwell here in this mortal state. All the honor and glory that can come to men or women ... from an applauding world... is but a dim thing whose luster shall fade in comparison to the high honor, the eternal glory, the ever-enduring happiness that shall come to the woman who fulfills the first great duty and mission that devolves upon her to become the mother of the sons and daughters of God.*" More and more I'm realizing that that, more than anything else is where my mission, passion, and desires lie. And what a joy it is!




* Elder Malvin J. Ballard, ask me for the full quote if you're interested, it's amazing!!!!!!!