Of Fellow and Fallen Soldiers

 While we drove yesterday, little Miss Three-and-a-half named everything she saw

..."I see a house, a field, a tree etc...

then in a sudden change of tone I heard her say,

"I see a lot of soldiers. Bye soldiers. We miss you"

I looked; we were passing a graveyard.

Something in her 3yr.old mind equated graves with fallen soldiers!

Fitting, isn't it? Life gives all its 'soldiers' battles to fight, some public, some private.

...and on this note happy, happy first day of December! 😀

We smile, groan, gasp and grasp the hands

Of fellow-soldiers, for we know

Alone we fall, allied we stand

As sands of seasons ebb and flow

The tender love that drives us on

Wreaks havoc, oft where none can see

For ‘nothing new under the sun’

Is often new to you and me

This skin we wear is sure to show

If given time enough, war-scars

They come with hold and letting go

And tasting salty sorrow-stars

We charge beneath the glist’ring sun

And wade through tides of morn to night

Battalion dependent on

Life's Chief Captain for strength and light

…and on we forge through gorge and bog

Where past and future briefly merge

To shape the battlefields agog

With living’s temp’ramental splurge

Before that somber meeting place

When one among our numbers falls

And leaves this force of hope and grace

In response to the Captain’s call

An Ultimate we all will brave

Where dust-to dust is bittersweet

Memorialized around a grave

That marks the resting place for feet

…as The Great Mystery within

Embarks where feet have never trod

When mortal steps out of its skin

And returns to life's Giver;  God

© Janet Martin

In Memory of Gordon James Pringle 

The Armor of God 

Eph.6:10-18

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.  

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.  

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, 

against the powers of this world’s darkness, 

and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, 

you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand. 

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth fastened around your waist, 

with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,

and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace.

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, 

with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. 

To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.