Yesterday I was invited to a friend’s house for dinner—since Covid, someplace I hadn’t been for a very long time. The “Colonel”, as we call him because he is a retired Army Colonel, was in the kitchen cooking and we began talking about Memorial Day. And it brought back to memory the time I visited Washington, DC, and went to Arlington National Cemetary. To see it on television is one thing, but to see it in person is something else. It is so ominous to see the thousands of graves of men and women who willfully gave their lives for this democracy and our country’s freedom. His sister-in-law Wanda said, “Just seeing it on television really got to me.”

Imagine the thousands of grief-stricken families who were and are missing someone from the dinner table because they fought a battle to protect all of us. For it is written—Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13 NKJV)

Before we ate dinner he called the room to attention because he wanted everyone to understand the difference between Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day. He explained that sometimes people get these two observances confused. Veteran’s Day is a federal holiday for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Whereas Memorial Day is a federal holiday for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. And just in case you didn’t know it is inappropriate to say “Happy Memorial Day.”

As you sit around the dinner table or wherever you are while enjoying your day—when you say grace please give thanks for those brave souls and their families. For it is by their sacrifice, thus far, that we are able to sit and eat in a free and peaceful place wherever we desire. Which is a blessing in and of itself. God bless you.  May God bless the United States of America.

© Rhema International 2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission, from this blog’s author and/or owner, is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Rhema International.