A mortal’s dream

~This is me in Mexico last summer!! And just in case you don't get it: This pic has nothing to do with what I wrote, only that I was in Mexico.

The crowd immediately gathered at the sound of the trumpet. Every eye steady, every glance waiting, nervous and unstable. Each person had already found a seat near their loved ones. I held my oldest brother’s hand, he held our youngest brother and I with my other had held my older brother’s hand and marched ahead to a front row near the platform and we sat next to a man whose face showed love to all who looked upon it. The man shook us by the hand and said, “Hello, my name is Federico,” and nodded to me with a knowing gaze which I held for only a short moment. I introduced my brothers and myself, very lady-like and polite. It was only after we sat down that I realized the man was not really a man, he was ghost-like. It was also then when I realized I knew him, I had seen him before, he was… I couldn’t recall, but I knew he seemed familiar.

The splendor of that spirit’s presence was not at all like I’d imagined, never so bright, or so peaceful. It almost seemed like rainbow colors oozed off from the light He reflected, although they were colors I had never seen, never imagined before. The colors were not a mixture of other well-known colors; they were all new, all sweet-smelling which gave me a feeling of peace and tranquility. I was still unable to see the man’s face, the splendor of his goodness and grace was so inevitable for me to notice, that at the moment, the face was unimportant, although his presence wasn’t. I stared and contemplated that image of my Savior, standing before us, all equal, all holy. Finally He reached the last step down the platform and came closest to me and seeing His face, my heart jumped and immediately the image of Him and every thing around me began to fade away.

I saw nothing but darkness and mere emptiness; the still, cool air gave me an eerie feeling. I was on the ground, my back against the cold, wet surface of the soft grass. I rolled over and getting on my knees, stood carefully to my feet. Up ahead I could make out a blurry, cloud-like sunrise. As I began to walk toward it I felt a sharp pain at the side of my thorax and knew I was hurt. I held the wound and ignored the pain, gazed straight ahead and never took my eyes off the cloudy area. I saw people out of the corner of my eye; they were headed toward the light as well as I was. Strange, it seemed the light from the sunrise was only in one small area, it could not affect the darkness around it; it could not shine the light upon the blackness that surrounded it. It seemed as if I had walked an endless amount of miles and would never get any closer than when I had begun walking until I came to a halt. A tall, bulky man silhouetted against the sunlight. The fog I had noticed before was the man himself, he in a way was like a ghost and in another, looked solid. He seemed very much like Federico. The small crowd, I amongst them, approached the spirit-like being and he spoke in a deep, loud voice, “The time is here. Come and be judged.” But it seemed if he was speaking to me. We followed the man into a deep, dark forest, to the right of the sunlight and came to a wall that reached into the dimness above. I was breath taken at the marvelous site of the stone wall, I watched in awe. It seemed to reach into the heavens, although I could not see an end to it, for it was only darker up above, never ending blackness. I felt a chill shooting up my back which made me shudder.

“Enter” The spirit-like being commanded. Entering the vast gate, intense light coming from inside, lighted the forest as the spirit-like being opened the gate. The crowd seemed to have decreased by the time we were all inside and for the first time I wondered if my family members were around at all. I looked around desperately trying to find some one I knew. I wondered off to a nearby hall, no one was around; only absolute brightness filled the room. The only thing I wanted to do now was find my family. The stillness and silence stole my breath away when I turned to where the crowd was. My family, all of them, they were waiting upon the Mighty One. The Spirit’s splendor filled the room with much more vividness; we all worshiped in awe of Him.

“YOU WILL CHOOSE” His words shook us to the ground. “YOU WILL CHOOSE” His words echoed in my mind. What will we choose? What will I chose? I was lost in my thoughts, what did He mean? Then I caught myself saying the very thing He was asking, He was letting us choose, as we had chosen for our lives back on earth, wherever we were at now. We had to choose our end, our purpose. What had I chosen? I pondered my mind, bombarding it with questions. It dawned on me then. I hadn’t really chosen anything at all. I had been busy and I was always doing homework, never really had much time for anything else.

“ONLY ONE OF YOU WILL ENTER. ONLY ONE, YOU MUST CHOSE WHO GOES.” What? What was He talking about? I looked around to see that only my family members were present. They looked at me, all expectantly as if I were to give the final answer. I was overwhelmed, shocked and immovable. I, Me, Ruth Romer was left to decide. I want to go to heaven and I want my family to come with me. I don’t want them to go to hell and I don’t want to go there either. What to do… what to say…

~

BOOM, BOOM… BOOOOOOOOOOM. Someone banged on the door to my room. I jumped out of bed, heart pounding 20,000 times per second, my forehead melted with sweat. I opened the door expecting to find Federico there, or one of the spirit-like beings. As the door creaked open, I held my gaze straight ahead. There was no one.

“What’s wrong with your face?” I looked down and gasped, jumping slightly back. It was my little brother. I could not understand. Where had I lost him? Why am I back at home, I should be in heaven. My mind raced and again, it dawned on me: It was all a dream.

“Seriously, what’s wrong with you?” my little brother insisted, but I said nothing. I sat on my bed, gaze fixed on the floor and my face unmoving. I know it was only a dream but in it, everything seemed so much more real than here on earth. Here, I only see shadows. I began to study my life, examining it from beginning to end. What purpose do I have in life? Have I accomplished it? Who, why am I here for? I knew the answer to those questions, the problem was, I had not applied them to my life much at all.

This past weekend I went on a mission trip to Acuña and I loved on the people there, as I had done on every other mission trip I had gone to. But the people that went to the trip with me, the same “Americanos” wearing the same Blue shirts showed me the same thing I already knew, yet it struck me afresh. I NEED NOT DO MIRACLES; I NEED NOT BE PERFECT, ALL I NEED IS TO LOVE ON THESE PEOPLE. A SIMPLE WORD OF COMFORT, A HUG OF LOVE, INDEED THE ONLY THING IS GOD’S LOVE ON THEM AND ON ME. I was impressed by simplicity of it, yet the importance and value of those words.

GOD LOVES US!!!

~By Ruth Romer