Sacrifice

In my opinion there is an increasing list of words which get over used and at times used improperly. The word Awesome is used all the time to describe how wonderful something or someone is in the mind people. I believe that Awesome should be reserved primarily as a description of how great and marvelous our God is. Another word is Love. We love everything from soft drinks to sports teams to a pair of jeans to our family members.

Lately I have been thinking that the word Sacrifice is another one of those over used words and Memorial Day gives me a reason to reflect on Sacrifice. You hear that word a lot these days. Moms and dads “sacrifice” to send their children to a Christian School or University. Parents “sacrifice” so their children can play little league, take kick boxing or music lessons. Families “sacrifice” for a few months so they can take their dream vacation. We are a people who “sacrifice” for a good number of things.

Let me suggest that those kinds of “sacrifices” are not really sacrifices. You may have to adjust your budget so your children can attend a private school. You may have to eat out less so your children can participate in an extra curricular activity. You may have to do your own laundry and cancel your cable TV so you can save up money for a family trip to Disney World. Those may be adjustments or inconveniences, but they are not sacrifices.

Sacrifices cost you a great deal more. Sacrifices normally require one form of payment – your life. So on this Memorial Day I am thankful for those men and women who loved the ideals of freedom, independence, liberty and justice that are wrapped up in our “One Nation Under God” so much that they were willing to first serve our country and then die for a cause much great than themselves. To their families I say thank you. At the time of your loss you may have received a folded flag, a letter of condolence, and perhaps a silver star. Regardless of the length of time that has passed since your husband, wife, son or daughter sacrificed their life for this country, you need to know this. Your sacrifice has not gone unnoticed and I for one am grateful and moved by their courage, honor, and commitment to a people and a nation.

When you go to our Nations capital and walk among the memorials of the various wars and conflicts you see name after name after name of men and women who paid with their life so that you and I can have the freedom to live in this great land. Those memorials remind you and me that freedom is not free. Freedom only comes when those who are true believers in the cause choose to sacrifice themselves so that other may live, work, play, and worship in freedom.

It bothers me more and more these days when I realize that some in this “land of the free” are willing to give away those very things that so many of our best and brightest have sacrificed to achieve and protect. I would hope that as a nation we would live in such way as to honor all those who serve and sacrifice.

In closing, I just want to say thank you to all those who have given their life for this great nation. May your families be treated with honor and respect for the sacrifice you have made.

Love God. Go Love Others.