Living and Remembering

Memorials don't just happen. Someone lives a life worth remembering; someone does the hard work or remembering. It takes at least two people to for there to be a memorial: one person who "was" and one person who "remembers". The rest, as they say, is history.

When we think of the people remembered in the United States the weekend of Memorial Day we get a sense of how sometimes history creates our memorials for us.  The women of the South who may have started Decoration Day, the predecessor to what we now call Memorial Day, decorated the graves of those who died during the Civil War. Notably, they decorated the graves of the soldiers from the North and the South.  Certainly the soldiers did not set out to die.  They set out to fight for the cause in which each "side" believed.  They were remembered for dying, yes, but more importantly they were remembered for dying for a cause in which they believed.  A second person or group of persons then had to "remember" their work.  Memorials don't just happen.  It takes effort; it requires sacrifice.

 A woman approached Jesus during supper and poured out a very expensive jar of perfume on him. While some criticized her excess, Jesus defended her action and he created a memorial for her: he said that her act of devotion would be memorialized for generations.  The fact that I am writing about it today proves that Jesus knew what he was talking about.  When the first Passover happened, God directed his people to remember that act of saving grace with a memorial day, and Passover is still a memorial day for God's salvation thousands of years later.  God acts, people remember. People act, God remembers.

Think about the memorial that you are creating.  If you are reading this it is not too late to start the work of living your life in a way that you can be remembered as you hope.  It probably will require some sacrifice: fighting for a cause in which you believe; lavishing love toward God in a way that is so extravagant that the world mocks or scolds you. You are creating a memorial whether you want to or not. People are going to remember you for something!  Live your life in such a way that when someone creates that "something" with which to remember you that it will be pleasing to God, to your family, and to those who never met you.  Memorials don't just happen.