What should we remember on Memorial Day? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Maybe it’s to my advantage here that I just don’t care for barbeques. It could be without that, I don’t get caught up in seeing Memorial Day as a day off. It is for me as I work at the campus post office and my boss told me to come in another day this week since the mail would be practically non-existent today.
However, even knowing that, I didn’t make any particular plans today. I don’t know what is open on campus and what isn’t right now. I have yet to go outside of the apartment today, but I will be soon. I make it a point to get out at least a little bit every day.
I do know that a lot of you will be having barbeques today, but please remember about celebrations. Celebrations are to celebrate something. It does seem odd to think of a day like this as a celebration day even as I write this. We have people who have died today. Why are we celebrating?
But don’t we do the same thing at funerals? I have only officiated at one funeral in my life and it was my grandmother’s. I remember that at the end, I became the M.C. of the night as we all stood one by one and told stories about my grandmother. Were we all sad in one sense? Of course! But yet we laughed as well and smiled as we remembered her life. These ceremonies are even referred to as a celebration of life.
That should be what today is. Today, we remember that some people did make the ultimate sacrifice. Some husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers never came home. Some wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters never came home. We remember them today. Their loved ones remember them every day.
It would be a shame for people to celebrate today and yet never once think about those people. Here’s an idea for you. If you know someone who has lost a loved one, invite them to your event today if you have one. Let it be a celebration of that loved one and an appreciation for their sacrifice. If the guest is fine with it, perhaps they should give a talk about their loved one and what they meant to them and how faithfully they served.
At the same time, make sure you are kind to those who have lost loved ones. The fact some people mourn does not mean no one should celebrate. I mourn still that I am divorced, but that does not mean I do not want people to enjoy marriage. If anything, I want them to enjoy it all the more. Of course, it would be quite unkind to seriously come up to me with the intention of telling me how great marriage is not to say that it is, but to remind me that I don’t have marriage anymore.
To those who lost loved ones today, we appreciate the sacrifice they made for our country. May we never lose sight that that freedom they fought for must always be defended lest it be lost again. By upholding true freedom today, we can still honor the sacrifice that these people made.
Happy Memorial Day!
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)
Support Deeper Waters on Patreon!
