Priority of Legacy
by Debbie Poer
As we prepare to celebrate Memorial Day on Monday I have been thinking about its origin and our observance of it. The exact date of origin is unknown, but it is known that it began around the time of the Civil War and was called Decoration Day. It was the day (various dates in various locations) when citizens would place flowers on the graves of those who had been killed in battle. After World War I it became a day of remembrance of those who died in all U.S. wars and was renamed Memorial Day. Then in 1968 Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which moved the observance of Memorial Day to the last Monday in May.
In general, over time our celebration of Memorial Day has become less of an observance and honoring of those who have been killed in U.S. armed conflict and war battles and more a time of gathering of family and friends around the grill. As I was thinking about this change in the way Memorial Day is celebrated, I was reminded of Nehemiah 8:14-17 when the Israelites who had returned to Jerusalem from captivity gathered to study the Book of the Law of God. They realized something of greater importance had been forgotten.
And they found it written in the Law that the LORD had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing.
This Feast was the observance of God’s instruction to Israel to live in temporary shelters for seven days as a reminder that even when their ancestors were wandering in the wilderness, God provided shelter for them. But the people had forgotten and had not observed the Feast of Tabernacles (Tents) for years. With this discovery the returned exiles once again began to observe the Feast of Tabernacles with great rejoicing.
Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” While Memorial Day is not a Christian holiday, I think a similar principle of remembering applies. It should be a priority and of great importance that we teach our children about their national heritage. Over the years many, many U.S. men and women have sacrificed their lives in military conflicts and wars. We owe a debt of gratitude to each one of them for doing so and to their families for the sacrifices they made and continue making today. Teaching our children that national freedoms did not and do not come without costs not only teaches the history of our nation, but it teaches we must be willing to set priorities and make sacrifices to have those freedoms. What a legacy that leaves our children when they have been taught those principles and they understand how they have been lived out in the past and what it means for their future.
As I gather with family and friends around the grill this Memorial Day I plan to do a better job of remembering and talking about those who sacrifice(d) for my national freedom and celebrate that freedom with gratitude. Flowers on a grave may seem an act of insignificance by itself, but when the “why” is better understood it is something that can be done with great joy!
