Streams of Mercy

During worship yesterday, we had a special time of remembering those who gave their lives to secure the freedoms we enjoy. We began by sharing names of those we know who gave their lives in military service. I was blessed to remember my mother’s cousin, who died on Omaha Beach in the D-Day Invasion, and a friend who died in Vietnam the year after we graduated from college. As the daughter of a Marine who served in the Pacific during WWII, this day has always meant a great deal to me. It was an honor and blessing to travel with my brother to my father’s Marine Division reunions through the years. I came across these words last week and give thanks for the heart that penned them. I share them with you:

“The freedoms we enjoy, the freedoms we take so much for granted, the freedoms we so often trifle with were bought not by the gold of our millionaires, nor altogether the genius of our scientists, nor the sacrifices of the people at home, but primarily by the blood, sweat and agony of those whose names on this day we honor – those who died that we might live! They found, as have brave men of all ages, that there are principles well worth dying for. Their noble, unselfish sacrifice is a silent, eloquent rebuke to the self-centeredness of this generation. Let those who want “peace at any price” remember this day that thousands have died for honor and freedom and that what we have today has come at the price of shed blood.”

In a prayer written for Memorial Day, Presbyterian Outlook editor, Jill Duffield reminds us that “what we remember of the past shapes who we are today, and influences how we will act tomorrow.” She prayed for “the wisdom to allow the memory of those who died for a cause greater than themselves, to form our words, opinions and decisions in ways that honor them.”

May each of us be a part of the answer to her prayer as we live our lives from day to day.

Elizabeth