Reflections on Remembrance Day

(C) Lynne Kirton

I attended a Remembrance Day service on Sunday.

As they read the name of fallen soldiers from the community, I was surprised and sad. There were so many names! It felt like the list would never end.

I kept thinking of those young soldiers. Did they know what they were getting themselves into? How brave they were! But also probably conflicted (from the movies I've seen it seems there was a conflict between going to war and preserving one's life - a natural human instinct). How hard it must have been for them to make the choice to serve.

What horrors they must have seen. I remembered scenes from shows like Downtown Abbey and Land Girls: bullets hissing, bombs exploding on the ground, dead bodies all around.  How scary that must have been. I also wondered how they dealt with the conflict between defending your country and not taking someone else's life. I know that God forgave them, but how did they forgive themselves? It must be hard.

Then I thought of the mothers and wives. How powerless they must have felt. There was nothing they could do to save the lives of those men. I understood their urge to become nurses, work in bomb factories, and so on.

I felt their grief. The pain and the anger. The anger I've felt so many times when I lost someone close to me. The "why, God, why" feeling. I thought of my own life's purpose and what I've been focusing on in the last 2 years: spirituality, religion, helping churches so that they in turn can help people be happier. What's the point of all this? If in the end we couldn't save those poor men's lives?

I kept trying to think of a theological explanation for that. Why did those men die? Why didn't God save them? I know that "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26:3 KJV) I've been able to overcome a lot of problems in my life by searching for Inner Peace. I've been able to heal a lot of things in my own body by trusting in Him (more on that on another post). But it must be hard to stay focused on peace while you are trying to kill someone else, while bombs are exploding all around you, while dealing with all those conflicting feelings, while trying to forgive oneself. Is that why they died?

I know the devil led us to war (or in secular terms, fear and negativity led us to war). Did those men unknowingly attract the devil (or in new age terms, did they attract negative energy) which increased their chances of death by choosing to go to war?

My current mode of living is to avoid dwelling on negativity (or in Christian terms, avoid thinking about the devil) as much as possible. I imagined God whispering in those soldier's ears, to dock down as a bullet was about to hit them, to take a wider step as they were about to set foot on a mine.  Or an even better thought: God was screaming at them, as loud as He could. Some could hear His voice (as an Intuition) and others couldn't. Is that why some of them died? That is the only theological explanation I can find that fits with my "God is 100% good" philosophy.

As I muddled through these feelings, of grief, fear, conflict, I thought of the comfort that focusing on God's love has given me throughout the past 2 years. I realised that I might not be sure as to why so many men died, but I do know that He was always there to comfort us. I imagined God comforting a soldier as he tried to forgive himself for killing another human being. I imagined God comforting a mother as she dealt with the loss of her son.

As we stood up and sang "O' Canada", I felt a strong sense of community and belonging. And then, the verse "we stand en garde for thee" finally came alive in me. Those soldiers stood en garde for Canada, for our Sovereign, for our freedoms. That verse is in the anthem because of them. From now on I will think of them when I sing it.

After the service, I had the pleasure of hearing the stories of Major Alan Haywood. I intentionally went up to him and asked him to share his stories with me. I'm a good listener and I love being there for people. So I thought that was the best way for me to honour a veteran and truly be a part of Remembrance Day. He made history come to life for me and I helped him keep the memory alive.

Why You Should Believe in a Good Future

Image: Fresco by Fra Angelico. Source: wikipedia.

When you think about your future, do you see things working out in your favour? Do you see yourself happy, successful and your dreams being fulfilled? Or do you automatically expect that life will be tough, you will struggle, and maybe - just maybe - if you are lucky you might have something good happen to you?
If you are the second type (or maybe you're just curious), read on to see why I believe you should always expect a good future.

The Christian Teaching

  
I was visiting Cleveland, Ohio last month, and attended the Easter service at the Church of the Saviour. The sermon was given by Dr. Charles D. Yoost. Even though he has a fearful preaching style, I was able to get something very positive out of his sermon.

He was saying that, in Easter morning the 2 Marys decided go to the tomb (where Jesus had been taken after his death on the cross) to perform some customary rituals on His dead body. And as they walked, they wondered "who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" But when they got there, they found that the stone had already been rolled out (Mark 16:1-4). Dr. Yoost used that passage to demonstrate the principle that God is always one step ahead of us.

He said: if you lost someone you love, God has already placed loving friends amongst you to comfort you. If you lost your job, God has already prepared something better for you and you will find it soon.

I believe Dr. Yoost's point was that you must trust God because He has already found a solution to your problems, He has already prepared your healing, He has already provided the comfort you need, etc.

That reminded me of Andrew Wommack's teaching about "A Place Called 'There'". Andrew talks about 1 Kings 17:2-4, where God tells Elijah to go to the Cherith brook, because He has commanded some ravens to bring food to Elijah over there. Andrew emphasizes that God had commanded the ravens to bring food there (at the brook), not here (where Elijah was at the moment). The point Andrew makes is that if we would just trust God and obey His direction (ie, follow our Intuition) there will be good things waiting for us in the future.

I would go one step further and also look at the verb tense in that passage (verse 4): God says "I have commanded the ravens to feed you there". He didn't say "go there and then I will command the ravens". That means God had already orchestrated the provision of food in Elija's future. 
Therefore, I interpret that passage as saying: trust in God, because He has already prepared something good for you in the future.

Andrew mentions another passage (1 Kings 17:8-9), where God again tells Elijah to go to a specific place, because there will be something good waiting for him there: “And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee”. Once again, notice the verb tense: I have commanded. God had already commanded the woman to help Elijah. The provision was already there.

Back to the passage mentioned in Dr Yoost's sermon, I see it in a similar light: God commanded the 2 Marys (via the Holy Spirit/Intuition) to go take care of Jesus' body. And before they even got there, He had already used an earthquake and an Angel (Matthew 28:2) to open the tomb. I interpret that as another example of God having already prepared something good in our future.

I'm going to guess that there are at least a few other passages in the Bible that also have a similar message (I don't know the Bible well enough yet to make a firmer, more detailed statement).

What is that teaching telling us?

In non-Christian words, that teaching is saying that we should trust that the future will be good, and it will be.

We see that principle being taught by believers of The Secret/Law of Attraction as well. They advise you to believe and expect that your desires will come true, because whatever you expect is what becomes true.

I am willing to bet that many other religions and spiritual belief systems also teach the same principle: trust that your future will be good, and it will be. 

Why is that teaching important? 

I see 2 reasons:  
1) It gives you peace.
2) You get into a virtuous cycle of positive thinking.

Getting some Peace
If you trust that the future will be good, you will consequently let go of your fears and worries, which will bring you inner peace. When you have inner peace, you are able to cope better with whatever comes your way (whether it is actually good or not).

The Virtuous Cycle of Positive Thinking

When you have inner peace, it's easier to get into a positive mindset and consequently to keep on trusting that the future will be good.

Once you break the inertia of fear/negativity/not expecting a good future, it becomes a virtuous cycle: you trust that your future will be good; that gives you inner peace; your inner peace helps you stay positive and keep trusting that the future will be good.

Of course that trust requires constant feeding/practice, but in my experience, the more you do it, the easier it gets (that's what psychology calls Learned Optimism).

Recommendation

It might be hard for you to believe in this principle just for the sake of believing (even when it is backed up by Scripture or pseudoscience). I think that's why so many people shy away from religion nowadays.

But it makes sense to believe in that principle, from the standpoint of mental health: your emotional life will be better if you believe in it. You will be happier if you believe in a good future. 

Therefore, I recommend following that principle, not because "it's what the Bible says", but because it is a healthy frame of mind to be in.

Quote of the day

Evil is a word we use to describe the absence of good, just as we use the word darkness to describe the absence of light or death to describe the absence of life. Both evil and darkness do not have any actual existence. Light and good actually exist.
So removing yourself from God will plunge you into darkness. That is death because you have separated yourself from God, who is life.
Paul Young on The Shack