John and Lisa's Blue Skies Blog – Soaring with God

Upon waking, I thought, “O Lord, not another day in the trenches.”  Yes, I do unfortunately feel this way on many mornings.  It’s tough to muster the energy day after day to fight our necessary battles.  In spiritual warfare, we use our daily duties to fight for truth and goodness – to spread peace and love – as soldiers of the Spirit.  We might think of ourselves as soldiers for Christ, but the truth is that God is God.  We can fight in whatever name or image we have of God as long as we remember that God is Love.

I often feel fed-up and overwhelmed with the endless wars, killings, and explosions  that we hear about in the news.  I wonder, “Why do I keep going day after day, struggling to do my small part in the world, when it really seems to make no difference?”  I know the answer:  It DOES make a difference, even though we cannot see it now; there are millions of other soldiers of the Spirit who are in the fight with us.

One of my yoga students asked me why, if yoga is about peace and love, there are “warrior” poses that we practice regularly.  The reason is that those poses (as well as many others) prepare us for spiritual warfare:  They keep the body strong, flexible, stable and balanced – while building mental endurance, perseverance and self-confidence.  Spiritual warriors must be physically and mentally strong because the battle is intense day after day.  There is never any rest.

So – although I’d much rather sit in front of my computer drinking red wine and eating cheddar cheese (or curl up under a blanket with a good book and cup of hot cocoa), I know that my duty is to stay in the battle.  My commander is God Himself.

Our task is to continue the fight despite exhaustion, fear, anxiety or despair.  Just because the situation looks bleak, doesn’t mean it’s really that bad.  We cannot see the whole situation.  So we trust that our God (everyone’s God) is putting all our individual daily battles together in a way that works out for the best; we know that we are fighting on the side of Goodness – and in the end, Goodness prevails.