Photo Credit: Hanscom Air Force Base
Happy Memorial Day doesn’t really fit this day, does it? Our commemoration of this day in America is a bit complex. I get the parades, and the setting flags on tombstones, and the sepia portraits of our military heroes past displayed on Facebook pages. Grandfathers, fathers, husbands, brothers…and, these days, their female counterparts.
The grilling and road races and t-shirt giveaways at baseball games? I don’t get so much. Yet, like our fellow Americans, we will grill and we will celebrate a day off…and through all that we will remember. We will remember the sacrifices of those who died to preserve our freedom.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia, Normandy Landings
I actually began writing this blog 3 years ago to help me remember. The many lessons of life, the travels, all the people we’ve known along the way, and the great provisions of God. It has helped me to write them down.
Memorial Day is a somber remembrance. The soldiers I’ve known personally who fought in wars survived them. Still, I have friends who lost loved ones serving in hard situations. I stand alongside to remember. To remember those of our own who died and to remember those families who also lost their loved ones on the other side of battle. There’s always the other side of war…the family side.
How ever you spend your Memorial Day…whether with a burger or fasting or at work or play, stopping and remembering is the first order of the day. We have much to be grateful for. On this day and every day.
Photo Credit: Paul Davis On Crime
[Added from Comment Below: That gravestone graphic leaves out the deadliest war in our history for some reason. Civil War – 620,000 dead. What a strange omission. – John]
If someone you loved died in one of these recent wars or in any service to our nation or community, please comment below with their names and any details you choose to include. I would be pleased to help honor them in this small way.
Independence Day in the USA – Remembering that Freedom Is Not Free – Deb Mills Writer
Stones of Remembrance – Lest I Forget – What Are You Remembering About God Today? – Deb Mills Writer
Worship Wednesday – Stones of Remembrance – Lest I Forget – Part 2 – Deb Mills Writer
A very big church in our area of Texas had 38,000 US flags planted on it’s grounds. Very touching sight!
Beautiful. In my hometown, wooden crosses with the names of the fallen line the streets on Memorial Day. I hope our culture never gets so distracted by the present that they forget the past. Thanks for Sharing, Marge. Have a blessed rest of your remembering day.
That gravestone graphic leaves out the deadliest war in our history for some reason. Civil War – 620,000 dead. What a strange omission.
Wow, thanks, John. I totally missed that. Only speculating, but the Civil War could have been omitted because the graphic related to national freedom. Still a huge component of the Civil War was for the freedom of some of our nation’s countrymen and women. Thanks. I added your comment to the body of the blog. Again, thanks. A terrible loss to our country, that war…and we’re still struggling to solidify the gains.