2023-07-29 A Meditation on Stages of Education

“6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. 7 All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! 8 Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O Lord. 9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. 10 O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 11 Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. 12 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!” (Ps 97:6–12 ESV)

It’s easy to say that at every stage of education, at every image formed in mind and thoughts eternal though perhaps at times regrettable, at such stages we must put in the effort to reject the ill and laud the good. Yet the soldiering impulse, upon graduation from the boot camp and the fighting spirit inducted into the heart of man, is, instead of “better efforts” and “intentional mastery”, the reality of a received Grace. It is the reality that we heal of our education via quieter moments and a posture not of belligerence but of patience and listening. We listen to a God who is Lord of our entire outlook. When calmed and weaned, we are suddenly possessed of a remembrance: into this-and-such was I lamely, regrettably inducted, and I heal not by emphatically boasting in the good and poo-pooing the evil, but in acknowledging a Higher Power.

Therefore the soldier is fully-made and well-rounded Man/Woman. The soldier extrapolates, gets the moxy of training, as an attribute not simply to hoard oneself, but the better to know his or her Sergeant Above. Who knits and mends as we rest. Who reminds of strange early experiences that still inform our politics and our thoughtful analysis of what life dregs up. We are inviting of a spirit Redemptive, knowing that this day all our memories are making of us a sum total greater than its parts. And we learn this hour via penitence or via pointing Heavenward. Such demure health towards the One on High, is contrast to our bold and patient fighting spirit towards all that is earthly. Towards the member of our community principled because of a crime witnessed or an unfairness meted out by would-be lords of the brethren, towards this member a patient and loving hand reaching out. That we do not bully and intimidate into coalescent belonging, but that we are ready to allow all of what’s in a man or woman to thrive and to self-discover and in season, in time, to reject the evil and accept the good. This spirit in whom we invest, is fully capable of being agent of the Holy Spirit, such we believe, and all the more so for the hopeless case, the one racked with paranoia and ill thoughts, belligerent and pent up, hands tied and heart mucked up, until comes a heart aflame and all Potential riled up to a winning team, love and patience earning the title of Militant and Fighting Spirit.