Memorial Day (May 25th) and Flag Day (June 14th) have recently past by, but we should never forget the meaning behind those holidays.
War is horrible, and our soldiers sacrifice greatly, but the rest of us citizens do benefit for the rest of our lives. Thus, I always appreciate when our opening prayer in Sacrament Meeting asks for a special blessing upon our missionaries AND our soldiers.
The sacrifice of soldiers was brought to the foreground for me yesterday, as a father of a soldier. My oldest son (Son#1) is currently serving fulltime in a military installation in Virginia. A carload of soldiers (five in number) on their way to get their laundry done was in a severe car collision. Three of those soldiers were airlifted to the hospital. One of those soldiers was my son.
Fortunately, the injuries sustained by the soldiers were minor. Their vehicle, though, was destroyed. It is ironic that for all the dangerous exercises done, machine guns fired, and grenades exploded during the careers of these soldiers, they almost died doing their laundry.
Naturally, our family went into prayer mode. Multiple members of our family independently placed my son's name in several LDS temples, where special prayers for the needy are said at an altar. Believe me, when one enters into prayer mode, there are NOT enough prayers that can be said. One gains special appreciation that temples are "houses of prayer," when one NEEDS those prayers.
Maybe God needs only one prayer, or maybe God simply knows our needs from our hearts. This I know: I needed the prayers to be said.
I am reminded of the Thanksgiving Hymn #11 found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is relevant to be said by soldiers. I have condensed the following quotation:
A New Translation: The Dead Sea Scrolls, M. Wise, M. Abegg Jr., and E. Cook HarperSanFrancisco, 2005, p. 180.
I give thanks to You, O Lord, for You have placed me in the bundle of the living, and You protect me from all the snares of the pit. Ruthless men seek my life, while I hold fast to Your covenant. … By Your mercies You save my life, for my very steps are from You. … [M]ighty men have camped against me, they have surrounded me with all their weapons of war. Arrows burst forth unceasingly, and the blade of the spear devours trees with fire. … As for me, though my heart melts like water, my soul shall hold fast to Your covenant. But as for them, the net that they spread for me will catch their own foot. And snares, which they hid to take my life, they themselves fell into. Meanwhile, "My foot stands on level ground; far from their congregation I will bless Your name."
This is my 300th blog essay, and I am happy to dedicate it to soldiers. In fact, the military has been a major theme of this blog from the beginning.
I do NOT mean to glorify war. No one hates war more than me. Nonetheless, when war must be waged, I am grateful to the U.S. soldier.
Copyright 2009 S.Faux (Email: foxgoku54 [at] gmail [d0t] c0m; URL: http://mormoninsights.blogspot.com). Readers may distribute this post for noncommercial purposes provided such distributing is of the entire post, including author's copyright and contact information. All other rights reserved.
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2 comments:
So very true S. Faux. Thanks for this reminder that we have men and women serving in combat that need our prayers and thanksgiving. I remember as a young soldier in the Army hearing someone pray for me like this and feeling tangible blessings of comfort flow into my soul. Great post.
SteveP:
As you are a vet, Latter-day Saint, evolutionist, ecologist, professor, and almost Romper Roomer, all I can say is that you have a lot of qualities I like.
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