Today was Memorial Day. From what I have seen in the world today, you wouldn’t know it. It seems lately that Memorial Day has simply been another day for people to have off from work and school. (Even though I did work today.) Do we hear any mention of what this day is about? Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I’ll also go on and confess that I didn’t think much about it today.
Men and women throughout several years have fought and died so that we can enjoy the liberties that we have today and we simply go and have a cookout or something and don’t say anything or do anything to honor them. I’m not against having celebrations on Memorial Day, but let us remember on this day that we are celebrating for a reason.
It seems we too often take so many good things for granted. Readers of Deeper Waters know that I frequently talk about wonder. Our age is an age where that is lost, but that is another blog. In our day and age, we don’t know though how to appreciate what we have. We can go to the grocery store and buy food not realizing what all it took to make it. We get water from a tap not realizing that in the biblical world, we would be considered heroes if we had that much water in ready abundance.
As I type this, I am thinking about what my ancestors did. Imagine how pleased Paul would have been to have such writing utensils at his hands. In the old college days, imagine having to write a Master’s Thesis by hand. If you wanted a book to be copied, you might just have to sit down and copy it. Today, you go to a library and put it on a machine and it’s done.
Think of Paul having to travel by foot to reach all those towns. Today, we can drive or fly and our sea travel is far better than Paul’s was. We don’t really appreciate it though. Paul would have had to have his letters delivered over a long period of time. Today, I can just get done writing this and click a button and immediately, I could send it to all the churches Paul wrote to if I wanted. (considering they had internet access, etc.)
Today, we take for granted that blood was shed for our freedom. We take the freedom lightly because we take the sacrifice lightly. I think war is a terrible thing. I am not a pacifist though. I think it’s sometimes necessary, but it should be a last resort and nothing that we gladly enter into. I’m thankful that men and women died so I could be free today. Do not think I am condemning the world for taking Memorial Day lightly while I am so much better. I am just as guilty.
Before you go to bed tonight, stop and think about those who died so you could be free. If you’re reading this later, take some time to think about that. If you’re not in America, think about the country you live in and the things you hold dear there and how people died to make that real. If it’s not what you’d like, think about how you can be the kind of person to make it what you’d like.
God bless America.
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