“7 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Paul’s Joy 2 Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4 I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. 5 For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. 6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. 8 For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. 9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. 12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. 13 Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. 14 For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. 15 And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. 16 I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.” (2 Co 7 ESV)

Half internally compromised, half stalwart Ferocity, what Composes the soldier as regards Cohesive Manner, Cohesive Heart, Cohesive Perspective, is no longer Compromised internally or externally, but Worn Boldly, heart on the sleeve, Pick-Me-Up and strong for the journey.

We can feel muddled and compromised. We can feel bleary-eyed at the sheer magnitude of the journey, of the mission, of the Operation. We can puzzle and wonder why ever we risked anything substantial, our inner Dynamo, on a lark or a quick meal or some such expedience. We can Ask: would it have been better just to go ‘Noid mode, made paranoid around the Helter-Skelter, stay Hidden O Soldier, mindset? Stay in the lines, lest you risk your Ministry. Stay in the lines, because you bear an Iron Fist of a militant sort, nothing to be bandied about Lightly.

And it can feel we’ve accustomed, grown accustomed, to Risky Maneuvering, as if our inner Safety Valve has finally given in and been crushed. We wish to plead to parent or sibling, I am a bit of a lightning rod these days, but my electrified Behavior is not taking away the fact Someone, some One of us, is targeted, and some One lifted up in order rightly to Act.

The Soldier is always Targeted, and bleary-eyed, tried to be made Inept, tried to be mocked and bombed back to the stone age: the Soldier Reveals a side of the human sphere, the human experience, the societal Dance, most uncouth and Aggressive. We are aggressively Pursued, demons within and fears without, we learn to Go Optimistic on the intervention of a parent or sibling or Friend, tired Apologies aside, we learn always: we are Dancing a Fine Line, and by-and-large we are Not in any Compromised or Troublesome stance. We have this much weight behind us. We have these truths within us. We have this Composure surrounding us.

Because it fell to our lot in life to Make the Grade and Declare the War and Raise the Standard. Fly-by-night no longer, wild and uncouth no more, we are indeed Expected to raise ruckus, to go out with a bang even as decades are added to our lifespan. Not curtailed like Christ was, age thirty-three. And we therefore harbor no ill regrets or antagonisms. Our closest confidants, our nearest of kin, our Beloved Status as son or as daughter, brother or sister, friend or neighbor: scar tissue has formed, and hurts have magnified, but too we walk the sober and heavy-blooded Walk of the valley of fears and the pain of Anything substantial as Echoed, as Done, as Enacted.