Story time.
Once upon a time (cuz all the fun stories start that way) there was an old soul and a young soul sitting in heaven.
Now I don’t know how much I believe in the ideas of young and old souls (or even heaven for that matter), but stick with me here.
The young soul was planning its next lifetime. Dreaming up the events, the scenarios, who its teachers its lovers its parents its children and all its favorite companions would be. Where it wanted to spend most of its days. Where it would take vacations. Everything that would come to pass.
The old soul, hand on her chin, watched her beloved companion with some amusement. She had lived countless lives in the material plane, had been through this process so many times. She sat quietly while the young soul meticulously weighed every option, every potential choice.
Over in heaven time doesn’t work quite the same as what we mortals are used to, you see. And what the soul experiences there gets a little…muddled once we come earthside.
Eventually he got to designating the hardships in his life. The really big ones. The people who would hurt him the most. The challenges, the people who would hate him and hurt him and force his growth.
He got to his enemies and the light went out of him.
“I can’t. This is too hard. I don’t want to have an arch-nemesis.” He dropped his forehead on his arms, weary at the idea of having so much pain at the hands of another soul. To have to ask someone to do this to him.
She smiled gently as she stood up and pressed her hands into her pockets. (In heaven all clothes have pockets.) This was the moment she had been expecting. “It’s okay. I’ll do it. I’ll be your greatest enemy.”
“Wait…why?”
“Because I love you.”
He stared at her, his brow furrowed in confusion and doubt.
“But I do have one condition. You have to promise me one teeny tiny little thing. When we meet; when I challenge you, when I make you feel like your blood is boiling, when I force you into the depth of your courage and strength…
Promise you will try to remember that it’s me.”
Here’s to remembering.
pssst…did you catch the shift in gendering? I didn’t do it on purpose, but I left it there anyway. I don’t think gender matters a whole lot in heaven, but it’s a fun thing to think about.