Memorial Day
This is a devotional that I wrote last year and as I read it again, I realize that the thoughts remain constant. I was conflicted about whether to write of graduations, which many of us attended this past week for all different grades, but felt like Memorial Day is observed nationally to recognize a group of our dedicated soldiers who have given their lives to fight and preserve our freedom and this should be their day of recognition alone. Stay tuned....for Graduation!
Memorial Day comes at a time of the year that sort of represents the transition of Spring to Summer. School is out, kids and sports have run their course, and the time has come for many families to change directions and routines. But so many times I think we forget that this is just not about a three day interval but something much grander and much more significant that stands on the banks of our history. I know I am guilty of that.
The following thoughts and excerpts are ones taken from a 2018 article in Christianity Today titled “Memorial Day: For What Shall We Live by Roger Brady”:
“They gave their very best, and we were reminded that we must do the same. They died serving something bigger than themselves—the transcendent ideals that make America the country we cherish.”
“For us as Christians, this day should have an even more poignant meaning. Many of the same values that our nation hopes to nurture and the traits military members are challenged to embody are consistent with those perfectly modeled for us by our Savior. He was the quintessential example of service and sacrifice.”
Brady writes that he sees a similarity between patriotism and faith, and how we sometimes get the flag and the cross confused. “ As American Christians, we are indeed twice-blessed, but we should not get the two confused. America is an imperfect place, an unfinished project, an ideal we hope to make a reality.”
“The American writer Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, once said we should give loyalty to our country always and to the government when it deserves it. I believe he meant that our only true loyalty is to those eternal principles to which governments aspire but do not always demonstrate. There may well come times when our government takes a path we cannot in good conscience follow, and we must stand where God stands. But it is right that we devote time to remember and honor those fellow citizens who gave their all for us—we are forever in their debt.”
These thoughts to bring to mind our real purpose on this earth; to not only honor those who, in uniform, have fought and died for the purpose of our American values, namely freedom but to look around and be aware of what we can do here and now to continue the fight for a strong and free nation, under GOD, and serve this earthly place through HIS eternal principles; faith, truth, trust, obedience and love.
So just the ideals of our American forefathers but those universal values set in place by the one who made us in his image, who sent his only begotten son to secure our salvation, the one who “created us in him to do good works?”
“Someday we will find ourselves at the end of our lives looking back, and we will ask ourselves what it was all for. At that moment, we will, all, want to recall a life of service to something larger than ourselves, to children who needed our teaching and our example of service, to people whom we gave a hand in time of need, to friends and colleagues whom we comforted in times of sorrow, lives with whom we shared the many physical and spiritual blessings that have been bestowed on us. If we live that life of service, we will have fulfilled the challenge of the Savior when he said, “Whatever you did for one of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40).
I thank God this day for the many soldiers whose lives have been taken as they fought ferociously for freedom. May we not only remember them and honor them but continue the fight for the Godly values God has given us and may we be willing each day to serve others sacrificially and allow God the reigns to guide our lives. Amen
Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!
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