Charge the lines...Written by Terry L. Dashner
Charge lines…Terry Dashner………………Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013 “He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms” (Psalms 18:34). You remember name Florence Nightingale, don’t you? The year was 1854 and war was Crimean War. The players? For one, Russia wanted control of Dardanelles. Secondly, Turkey resisted with France and Britain joining her. Britain would allow no one to threaten her sea trade, especially through Dardanelles. There was war for two years, and Florence led charge with nurses, tending wounded and dying. There was another charge too. Alfred Lord Tennyson was his name. A modern war correspondent of sorts Tennyson writes these opening lines, “Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in valley of Death Rode six hundred. Forward, Light Brigade! Charge for guns!’ he said: Into valley of Death Rode six hundred.” Yes, these are opening lines to famed, “The Charge of Light Brigade.” I awoke this morning to cadence of this poem…’Forward, Light Brigade!” And then out of my inner being I begin to hear words from Psalms 18:34, “He teacheth my hands to war,…” More on this in just a minute, but first—listen to these words: “O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done; The ship has weather’d every rack, prize we sought is won; The port is near, bells I hear, people all exulting, While follow eyes steady keel, vessel grim and daring: But O heart! Heart! Heart! Heart! O bleeding drops of red, Where on deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.” Do you remember lyrical words? You should. They are words of Walt Whitman. He penned these words, being moved by death of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was truly a Captain par excellence. There seemed to be a lot of senseless death in mid 1800s in America’s war of brother against brother and in Russia’s Ukraine. For now, back to my opening charge. Tennyson penned his immortal lines, being moved by little more than 600 light cavalry men who moved across an open terrain to a suicidal fate. The canons belched flack and tainted air overhead with black-powder smoke, but light brigade kept moving forward…”Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in valley of Death Rode six hundred.” What would cause brave boys—barely men—to keep moving forward without breaking ranks in face of gruesome death? Would it be discipline? Would it be for glory of battle? What could it be?
| | Life 101 For the Young and Young at Heart! Book ExcerptWritten by Caren A. Adams
Lesson 1. Category Well Being Plan to do this. Stop blaming others for your shortcomings and failings in life. Why should you do this? What ever happened in past is not a prediction of what will happen in future. Take control of you, your thoughts, and your actions, so you may do something positive about your future life circumstances. What happened? There have been situations where people stepped, and even stomped me to ground, both mentally and physically. It was not until evaluating why this was happening when an epiphany happened, a clarity I never had before; I was allowing these negative people and things to occur in my life. All time, blaming others for their words and actions, and then truth hit me like a ton of bricks. If I did not want others to take advantage of me, then I should remove myself from their presence, either mentally or physically. It is hard to say this to someone, more so to children who have no control over their circumstances, but then again, maybe they actually do have control to some extent. Talking to their teachers, extended family, or neighbors, calling police or child services for help is a start. How do you convey to anyone that he has power to do anything if he does not have a strong mind and willing heart? Control your life from within yourself—it is that simple. If you do not believe you have control, then remove yourself physically from situation. If you must remain in a situation, then cut off negative people and their actions in your mind; find a way to drown them out, as if you were tuning out commercials when watching television. When bonus time had arrived, I overheard our supervisor telling our manager to exclude my job function from bonus pool by transferring it to another department. Some people are mean spirited, and you cannot help them, just pray for them. I did not receive a bonus that year, allowing our supervisor to receive an even larger bonus. Everyday, as I passed our supervisor in halls I would repeat this to myself, “You mean absolutely nothing to me, and this is only a stepping stone on way to a greater life that God has promised me.” I could not change what happened but I could change my response. Convincing myself that it was a learning opportunity, one that would make me more humble, to learn not to react negatively to others, to learn how to ignore some people and things, and to look forward to a better future. Take this truth to next step, and you release blame and not allow it to consume your life by dwelling on its negativity but go on to take control of your life and actions to make you a better person. How do you do this? Changing blame from them to me by questioning myself as to what I was doing to deserve this. Thinking it must be something I did. When I answered question, I realized I was not doing anything. Therein laid problem of who was responsible. Questioning, allowed me to evaluate other options I could use to change my circumstances. The options were to remove myself from situation or stick to it but change my perspective. Instead of hoping for people or circumstances to change, which were unreliable anyway, take steps necessary to circumvent problem. Never try to change a person. Offering suggestions may help, but ultimately I have control over my destiny, rather than molds others have set for me.
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