2024-01-06 A Meditation on the Mind Underway

“25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (Jn 21:25 ESV)

The mind fills even as externalities are underway. Ideas form and simple longing for life, and for that more abundantly, entertains and tempers the soul of the one on march. The one on march strangely existential, will cope with all threats against life and limb. Against the life and limb of our beloved colleague, or aging parents or simply the people who must have something going right for them, that they have we the army of the Lord out there and on the front lines.

For the civilian get-up is partly an unbelievable patience, while simple habits and walking routes, patterns and needs, are somehow less noble than the sacrifices of the soldier, yet no matter! Out of a milieu lazy and impatient, tempered by boring habits and shameful addictions, comes One Voice, or a voice multiplied: people rise up and produce, that untold fiction or capitalistic endeavor that contributes character and formative image to the community. That is, the soldier can rest with his or her kind of folk: the good folk out of a parched land, those who reside patient and laboring, who dwell grateful for safety and calmly whistling into each day.

And to then the soldier’s Reality, one hodgepodge with false starts and mentalist gymnastics: can you Adhere, can you Cope, can you Stay Sane? Strangely courageous the existential willingness to go to one’s last walk, yet even more buoyant, boisterous, around Inspired get-ups, marching, listening posts, and timeless gratitude unto all who thus enable us to serve, from the captain down to the one who does the laundry. From high up on down to a perspective or cohort no delay around honoring each other with a greeting: we are not curt nor dismissive, but rather today’s battle is everyone’s battle. Somehow there is collegiality and there is an elevated strangeness, strange the way we take in stride the death of loved ones or the self who is found in that danger zone near to our own demise. We laud and honor all life, so that we might actually allow Faith to Inform, to Teach of a Tomorrow beyond the grave, strangely to Encourage and give patience to each to live out this life, for the sake of our loved ones, for the sake of our Maker, for the sake of our self introspective as much as magnanimous outwardly.

Ideas fill the mind, and tomorrow’s produce will be no less than those eternal and vivid ideas Today, Today’s ideas not yet finding outlet perhaps, yet Today’s ideas a vast cavalcade or avalanche of inspiration. Of a proper get-up. Of a right situational arrangement. Of a few things ‘round here that could use some artistry, some punctual architecting, some melodic design. Such as the Determined Ode to what theologians and lay people call Grace. Such as allowing words vociferous, boisterous, to calm the agitated seeker after authority, calm the unkempt or wondering soul, calm the lazily complacent sack of bones. The ones “out of the loop” are no wonder distracted by depression or by a yawn, yet Today we hear the call unto bringing All Things, not just what the church lists, but All Things, to the altar. We bring our fears and our ennui. We bring our cage of the self, our workplace, our shuttle of life, to the altar seeking no time to fuss around former sins, but a dalliance Today unto Untold Reason and Belonging.

Therefore the ideas that spill over into the shared milieu, are ideas proper and good simply for the sake of their coming from a soul unimpeded, secret sins no match for a knowing Authority and His or Her voice. We rise up, we effusively spill out our thoughts or our quiet gladness. We are those Called and Consecrated, for the sake of that One Person back home, out of a society run amok, for the sake of that Christian Deed Shown, Love Imparted, in motherly or fatherly fashion, in collegiate sibling fashion, in a whispered Thank You for all who serve, who Today are making a military honest and fair in learning how to abide Together, with an enemy, with ones itching to pull the trigger, with our own growth spurts occurring in tandem to a militaristic foray, a step forth in what is no longer personal pain, but an “Aha!” moment wherein strangely we are nurtured and held, even as life is flashing before our eyes. Strangely we are Here, not There, finally in the last issue seeing a belligerent or drunken enemy, who cannot rightly see the forest for the trees, who lost some eternal battle surrounding Finding and Coping, Addressing and Abiding, near to a better Tomorrow, a Hereafter, and a Finality called Christian, called Eternal, called Owned and Dwelt-Upon. We dwell Sincere, living out our days because the losses are simply existential; the aging of our own frame is simply passing onwards the Peace we’ve learned and observed. All these things endear us to the fight, and more than that, to the barracks and surrounding patient peace and dialog.