How can we go beyond the surface for Memorial Day? How can we reach those who have lost loved ones? How can we help their loved ones’ legacies live on?
- Write letters to their families.
- Pray for their families.
- Talk about them with our kids.
My friend, Tyler, died while serving in Iraq. When I think of his family, my heart aches for them. I want his family to know I have talked to my kids about Tyler, who he was, and his kindness and bravery. I want his family to know that we are so grateful for him and that his legacy lives on.
I asked our kids, “What can we do to show Tyler’s family we are grateful for him?” My daughter said, “Send them cards!”
So we all made them cards. It was difficult at first and it took us a while because they wondered what to write. I explained that he was a kind and brave friend of mine who died in the war serving our country. We have freedom because of him and all the people who serve and served our country.
I guided them with ideas that might encourage his family, but I also told them to write from their hearts in their own words. There is something special about a kids’ words as they are raw and honest.
If you are one of the families who lost a loved one serving our country – thank you. I pray today that the Lord would comfort you, and that you would know our gratefulness for you and the heroic sacrifice of your loved one. In Jesus’ name, amen.
The Gift of Being Face to Face
Remembering those who served and lost their lives makes me want to soak in this time with those right in front me. I am taken back to the words of Corrie ten Boom, a holocaust survivor and hero.
In1944, after hiding Jews behind a wall in her home, Corrie ten Boom was sentenced to prison camps and solitary confinement. After a month, she was allowed to leave her cell to take a shower.
In her inspirational book, The Hiding Place, Corrie wrote: “How rich is anyone who can simply see human faces! The shower too was glorious: warm clean water over my festering skin, streams of water through my matted hair.”
How Rich is Anyone. Anyone who can simply see human faces.
When we’re with our friends, spouses, and children, let’s indulge in the richness of being face to face.
The richness of being able to talk. To connect. To be together.
What a gift.
Jesus embraced this gift of being face to face.
People were never an inconvenience to him. Ever.
When Zacchaeus was in the tree, Jesus sought him out.
When leaders rebuked the blind beggar, Jesus called the man to him.
When the disciples told the children to leave, Jesus called them to him.
When Jesus saw a crippled woman, he stopped preaching and healed her.
Jesus walked through life with his twelve disciples and many others. He took the gift of being with people to heart and made time for people.
Let’s do the same and soak in the gift of being face to face.
Indeed, “how rich is anyone who can simply see human faces!”
Linsey Driskill 