“Sometimes, we don't get what we plan for. Sometimes, everything can go wrong even when you do everything right. You're going to fail...and that's okay. The question is what you do with that knowledge. If you don't even try because you might miss your goal, you miss out on life. We are all going to face defeat, and more than just once or twice. How you react under those circumstances is what matters- do you give up? Do you push on? Do you give it your best shot for your own peace of mind even when you know it's a lost cause? That, to me, is the real measure of perseverance; it not only shows us who we are but also forces us to think about what we could become.” ― Kyle Carpenter, You Are Worth It: Building a Life Worth Fighting For

At least one account has survived of a Christmas Truce gone bad: the story of Private Percy Huggins, a Briton who was relaxing in No Man’s Land with the enemy when a sniper shot to the head killed him and set off more bloodshed. The sergeant who took Huggins’ place, hoping to avenge his death, was then himself picked off and killed.

In another account, a German scolded his fellow soldiers during the Christmas Truce: “Such a thing should not happen in wartime. Have you no German sense of honor left?” That 25-year old soldier’s name was Adolf Hitler.

Neither was high command pleased with the festivities. On Dec. 7, 1914, Pope Benedict had implored leaders of the battling nations to hold a Christmas truce, asking "that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang." The plea was officially ignored.

The thrill of baptism is that on account of Jesus, there’s no pressure at all to go it alone. Instead, the will of the Son shines on our desolation. That’s his testament. That’s his redemption. That's his promise. We’re in this with him. Whether we believe it’s true or not, even when the odds are a million to one, his will is done. We are in this with him. We’re not doing this on our own. We’re not made to go it alone, that’s why so many people are so miserable. They pass through church like lonely ghosts. They pass through your home like lonely ghosts. They pass through life as if they’re a lonely tourist, which is the worst way to pretend you’re alive when we know that there’s no life apart from Christ.

Maintain a clear-sighted view of your circumstances, eschew biases and preconceived notions, and practice decisiveness. Learn to trust your intuition. When relying on only a "partial feeling," your gut - often referred to as the "second brain" - will indicate that something is wrong.

The money and habits, the whispers and gossip, the crashing and burning, and the lying that only the good die young are how we end up hung up on everything and anything, everyone and anyone who promises to reverse the curse that we were born with but can’t escape because we’re locked up in the cages that we made for ourselves.

That’s why we can’t wait to listen to what God has to say, to see his face shine on us. But we don’t have to plead our case because he already knows all of our thoughts and all of our ways, so before we get a chance to say anything he says to us: have faith, you’re forgiven, you’re loved, you’re safe in the name of Jesus Christ forever. The curse that you’re born with is reversed so that now you can call it all a gift.

In contests of strategy it is bad to be led about by the enemy. You must always be able to lead the enemy about. Obviously the enemy will also be thinking of doing this, but he cannot forestall you if you do not allow him to come out. In strategy, you must stop the enemy as he attempts to cut; you must push down his thrust, and throw off his hold when he tries to grapple. This is the meaning of "to hold down a pillow".  - Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

Bad dreams, war scars, and missing a tooth are all reminders that we don’t trust God to take care of us and that we don’t trust God to use us to take care of each other too. But everyone can be changed by God. Everyone one is changed by God’s Word, whether they know it or not. Anyone and everyone, no matter how disconnected, disjointed, or disappointed is taken care of by God; we Christians are living proof.

The body of the Way of Strategy from the viewpoint of my Ichi school is explained in the Ground book. It is difficult to realize the true Way just through sword-fencing. Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things. - Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings, chapter one

We act like we're so much better than other people in other places, but

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Which dystopian writer saw it all coming? Of all the famous authors of the 20th century who crafted worlds meant as warnings, who has proved most prophetic about the afflictions of the 21st? George Orwell? Aldous Huxley? Kurt Vonnegut? Ray Bradbury? Each of these, among others, have proved far too disturbingly prescient about many aspects of our present, as far as I’m concerned. But it could be that none of them were quite as far-sighted as the fairytale spinners. - N.S. Lyons

Blog Link: https://theupheaval.substack.com/p/a-prophecy-of-evil-tolkien-lewis