Good morning…
“Hi, Sue,” he wrote this week. “I hope all is well with you and your family.”
“I also hope everyone will take a moment on Monday to reflect on the Americans who died in the service of their country,” he continued. “Memorial Day is a wonderful time to get together with family and friends; but more importantly, it is the day we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country so we can live free. I think the attached video helps us do this.”
“Also appropriate to the occasion is the last stanza of the poem, The Truly Great, by Stephen Spender,” he shared. “In June, 1984, President Ronald Reagan quoted from it in his speech at the ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion:
Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields
See how these names are fêted by the waving grass And by the streamers of white cloud
And whispers of wind in the listening sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life
Who wore at their hearts the fire’s centre.
Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.”
Following the inspiration of those who have fought for our peace, we do well to ask ourselves, “In what ways am I continuing their fight for life?”
Might we live as Paul wrote?
I know—the Holy Spirit has told me—that everywhere I go from now on, I will find imprisonment and persecution waiting for me. But that’s OK. That’s no tragedy for me because I don’t cling to my life for my own sake. The only value I place on my life is that I may finish my race, that I may fulfill the ministry that Jesus our King has given me, that I may gladly tell the good news of God’s grace (Acts 20:23-24, VOICE).
…Sue…
