Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Remembering the Fallen in Our Prayers

I was distressed to read Monday of the deaths of 10 soldiers in Afghanistan in the helicopter crash, and also of the British deaths in a crash. My heart always feels such compassion and concern for the families of those lost.

My friend Missy has a reminder on her 'blast' on Yahoo 360 to remember those families in our prayers.(and if her blast has changed, the link she has is here ) 

 
I have been mulling what to post about this since late Monday night, because when I first saw the news stories about the deaths, I made the mistake on clicking on the link to AOL message boards under the stories
 
I am all for the right to express differences of opinions,but I suppose I am uber naive. The viciousness of some of the posts in response to the news of so many fallen soldiers took my breath away....I actually came across a post headed 'THANK GOD FOR DEAD SOLDIERS"which completely sickened me.Even if you are totally against the war or our administration....how on earth does that translate into thanking God for lives LOST?
 
ALL the deaths in this war on terror distress me...both civilians AND soldiers. It's terribly upsetting to see that there are so many people who seem to view only CIVILIAN deaths as 'worthy' of compassion? Or who seem to view the loss of a soldier's life as merely another excuse to rant and rave about how much they HATE.....our government, our military, our country?
 
Well, I've made a decision to steer clear from now on from these message boards. So much viciousness and hatred just fills me with despair.Life is troublesome enough at times...why seek out more distress?
 
After reading the message boards, I Googled 'Prayers for Fallen Soldiers',just seeking some sense of solace and compassion.
 
I came across this,which was sung by the West Point Glee Club at the end of the movie"WeWere Soldiers"
 

"The Mansions of the Lord"
Words by Randall Wallace


To fallen soldiers let us sing
where no rockets fly nor bullets wing
Our broken brothers let us bring
to the mansions of the Lord

No more bleeding no more fight
No prayers pleading through the night
just divine embrace, eternal light
in the mansions of the Lord

Where no mothers cry and no children weep
We will stand and guard tho the angels sleep
All through the ages safely keep the mansions of the Lord

and here's a link to the song  Click here: Mansions of the Lord
 
And something else that brought me comfort from all the hatred was this post by a new blogger I came across, the wife of a soldier  
 
So rather than stress and despair anymore over the hatred I have seen on the message boards, I am going to adopt her question
 
What do you do with the privledge of prayer today?
 
And use it to motivate me to pray as she suggests.

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