A Living Memorial!

Memorial Day was Monday of this week. A day off for many, all in the Midwest, not so much here. The unofficial start to summer with vacations, pool openings, trips and sleeping in for children and school workers. Memorial Day is surrounded by images and remembrances of those who paid the ultimate price for this nation in giving their lives in service of this country and its ideals. Those who never came and home but also those who did. We remember their service and with inadequate words try to honor their service with “Thank You.” The simplest things or words often are discounted as less meaningful.

Thank you seems so small but no words can express true gratitude. We try to pay honor through memorials made of paper in recognition of an act or actions or in stone pillars and monuments to remember. We may also make memorials made of wood, not simple by any means just try carving stone or wood into something that looks like something. We try to make it fitting but it never really fits!

In Christianity we have the memorial of wood, the cross, the memorial of stone the empty tomb and most importantly the memorial of life, the risen Jesus. It is life and living that memorializes the actions of God. It was the life given that paid for the sin not the wood of the cross. It was the life returned that conquered death and the grave not the stone of the tomb. It is the LIFE that gives hope and meaning and purpose for a follower of Jesus. No other memorial is fitting except a life lived to the fullest and clearest walking in the shadow maybe the footsteps of Jesus.

This past Memorial Day one of the stations had a marathon of war movies. I watched a few minutes of one I had never seen. It was not one of the “happy beat back” movies but rather one of individual soldiers living and fighting in the aftermath of battles and brokenness. They were living. Saving Private Ryan begins and ends with scenes from the largest military cemetery outside of the United States located in Normandy, France overlooking Omaha beach. The story is of a military unit looking for and fighting to find one soldier to take him home. They struggle with the purpose and the price for such an action though out the movie. The movie concludes with and older private Ryan bringing his family and extended family before the cross marker of the unit’s commander to show it was worth it. Private Ryan lived his life to honor their sacrifice to get him home. His family was evidence of that living memorial.

As we go about each day is our life a memorial to our family, our nation and most importantly our Savior.

Do I/you live in such a way to prove their sacrifice was worth it?

What needs to change and what is the first step to change?

In HIS Service and Yours,

Bro G