The Locus Of Any Concern (Sun Tzu 4:5-6) (1 Peter 5:8-11; Isaiah 30:15-18)

Where we are strong a focus comes to what’s of most concern;
Dynamic range in hearing was for me how I would learn;
Ear doctor said, “If I could hear the things you hear, my friend,
My head would hurt, just like yours does, though someday it will end.

The first world that I entered in (besides where I grew up)
Was world of sound – recording it – but not where sound was rough,
But in its subtle gentleness, far out where I could hear
The things my friends knew not about, but to my ears was clear.

Recording sound on “Nagra” was a thrill beyond belief –
I learned to hear a background hum, intrusive sounds beneath
The clear sounds of some dialogue recorded for a flick,
Then learned to build the sound-track adding back each pop and click.

I learned how sound and mind hooked up to build the world within;
Then put the sound outside the door before the man came in;
I learned a church bell in the glenn matched distant sight with sound;
I learned you could enrich a scene with sound-effects around.

When Sun Tzu says, “A thunderclap is no conceit to those
Whose ears are sharp”, I would agree as one whose hearing knows
A world of fine distinction, where the thunder has its place,
But often drowns out subtlety, unheard by human race.

Sun Tzu goes on to say great leaders live their lives like me –
They’re sensitive to what’s not sensed because of subtlety;
Then from that un-sensed world around they grasp where foe is weak,
And that is where he strikes with force – gains victory he seeks.

For victory is hinged upon an impotence that’s grasped,
Not on “a way unorthodox which foe would think of last”;
Its strength on weakness – find the chink in armor which he wears,
And focus your attention on that locus of your cares.

To ancients, that was “excellence”, there “cleverness” was seen,
“Sophisticated strategy”, “skilled warriors” had been
Involved in planning victory – in teasing out the chink
In armor of the enemy – there striking in a blink.

For “ease” was central to their thought – “where is the way between
Two obstacles now stopping me where opposition’s lean?
For that is where I want to strike, to that I am attuned;
And where I sense it I will strike, with victory assume.

“The devil thinks that way”, Paul said, “that’s why the lion roars –
To start some quarry from the bush that’s weak, that can’t take more;
If it had just sat quietly with patience as its strength,
The lion would have walked right by, and he’d be free at length.

Isaiah said, “In quietness and trust your strength will be”;
I knew a nurse – a counselor – who shared that thought with me;
As colleagues at a treatment place – that wall-plaque said it clear,
And pointed to her way of life – how she’d combated fear.

That was for her, a point of strength, attack could not be made
Upon her life at that high tower, despite how plans were laid
By smart demonic warriors – perhaps some other place –
But quietness and trust was strength for her in any case.

So when involved in Jubilee – in setting free the trapped,
Christ watches for the weakest link in captors – their attacks
And as we listen for his word to guide us to that piece
We learn some “this and that” to do effecting their release.

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