MEMORIAL DAY

             As I grow older I become ever more aware that memory is fleeting. Our grandson was working on a school project which examined the impact of World War II on those who lived through it. Both Liz and I were children during that war. I was six when it began and ten when it ended. We dug into our memories for ways the war impacted us. We thought of things we haven’t thought of in years. And the more we thought, the more memories popped up. But it is amazing how much we cannot remember. This is evident also when we look at pictures from thirty, forty or fifty years ago. Looking at those pictures, we recapture memories that left us in the intervening years. And some pictured events we still cannot remember.

            Some memories stay with us better than others. These are the precious memories about which the gospel song speaks. “Precious memories, how they linger, how they every flood my soul.”

            But to help preserve memories we erect memorials. And for that purpose we observe Memorial Day, a day begun to honor and remember those killed in the civil war, but which now encompasses all those who have gone from our midst. It became “Decoration Day” for many rural cemeteries.

 In Proverbs (10:7) Solomon says “The memory of the righteous is blessed.” I would paraphrase that to say it is a blessing to us when we remember those who have departed. 

Grace and peace. 

Mel

MONDAY'S CHILD

             I eat breakfast with a group of old(er) ministers every Thursday morning at a local Cracker Barrel. As most of you know, all the Cracker Barrel restaurants have antiques or replicas of antiques on the walls. One morning I noticed on the wall a calendar from the year 1935 and it was open to the months of March, April and May. Having been born in May of 1935 I looked for the 20^th (my birth date) and saw that it fell on a Monday.

            “Monday’s Child” is a song or rhyme that dates back more than 200 years. It starts “Monday’s child is fair of face.” Now that’s nice. But it is up to others to decide if this Monday child is fair of face. I’d rather be like Tuesday’s Child who is “full of grace.” One definition of “grace” in the dictionary is “unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration and/or sanctification.” Such grace is reflected in character and lifestyle.

What is inside a person is more important than what is on the outside. In our society, which makes much to do over looks, we need to remember, “the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”(1 Samuel 16:7)

             If you are not familiar with the rhyme it is;

“Monday’s child is fair of face,

 Tuesday’s child is full of grace,

 Wednesday’s child is full of woe,

 Thursday’s child has far to go,

 Friday’s child is loving and giving,

 Saturday’s child works hard for a living,

 But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day

 Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.”

Of course, this ancient rhyme has nothing to do with reality. 

Grace and peace. 

Hello Again

     It has been four months since my last post. For thirty days I was in South Africa with my son-in-law Todd Heifner and my grandson Deason. When I arrived back home in the middle of February it took a month to get things back together. And it is so easy to put off something not required like a blog. But I hope now to be a regular blogger.
    It was a treat to spend a month on mission and traveling with two really neat guys. I was blown away by the vastness of the country and its beauty. South Africa is full of prairies, rolling hills, mountains, rivers and beaches. South Africa has become a modern nation with large cities and a strong economy. But also poverty is everywhere, in the cities and out in the countryside.
     Our mission was to some of the poorest people I have encountered, although I understand that conditions are worse in some other slums around the world. Most of these people are locked into poverty with little hope of escaping it. But despite the conditions in which they live, the children were like children elsewhere. The were full of life and laughed easily. Working with them was a joy.
     Bolstered also was my admiration for missionaries who leave the comforts of the U.S. to work in some of the most difficult situations. These, and those that came before them, are the reason that Christianity is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world. May God bless them and their work.

Grace and Peace