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Today is Memorial day. It is a federal holiday that honors and mourns the U.S. Military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is a day to celebrate America’s fallen heroes and to lament their loss.
Memorial Day Lament
O, valiant souls who stood to defend our land,
With hearts of courage, you took your stand.
From fields of verdant green to deserts bare,
You marched into battles, facing deaths stare.
Silent now are the drums that beat your path,
Echoes of valor swallowed by war’s wrath.
Your laughter, your dreams, now memories past,
In the annals of time, your legacy will last.
Gone are the days you looked upon the dawn,
The mornings of promise where hopes were drawn.
Your sacrifice, a testament to love so grand,
For the country, for freedom, you made your last stand.
We grieve for the moments stolen away,
The future you forfeited for our today.
Families weep, hearts heavy with sorrow,
In the void of your absence, seeking a brighter morrow.
O, brave defenders, rest now in peace,
From your mortal struggles, you find release.
In the quiet of the night, under the stars’ gaze,
We remember your courage, going into the fray.
May your spirits soar where pain cannot reach,
In fields of eternity, where God’s love does preach.
We honor your name, with tears and with pride,
For you are the heroes, forever our guide.
In the silence of our hearts, we whisper your name,
With gratitude profound, never to wane.
Though wars may cease and battles may end,
Your sacrifice and bravery, we will forever commend.
Have you experienced complete joy lately? Full joy? Today is Memorial Day. Maybe you are hoping for a day full of happiness with a big barbecue with friends and family or a day at the lake relaxing and playing with the kids.
Jesus tells us how to get and keep complete joy in John 15. It is simple. “Keep my commands” he says. Ok, maybe not so simple, especially when Jesus elaborates and declares in verse 17, “This is my command: Love one each other.”
Well, that explains why there is so little joy in the world. There is an extreme lack of loving one another. We are so busy loving ourselves that we don’t do a lot of loving one another and so we don’t experience a whole lot of joy, not to mention complete joy.
Complete joy. We all like the sound of that. Not partial joy. Not a little taste of happiness and pleasure (which is one definition of joy), but an unending feast of complete joy. We all have different ideas about how that might be attained and how we might possibly keep it. Most of our ideas are wrong.
Jesus describes what love looks like in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Love is sometimes extreme inconvenience and interruption. Sometimes it’s costly and dirty. It is always helping someone in need. Sometimes it’s someone we don’t agree with and don’t really like. Love isn’t liking someone. Love is helping someone who really needs help.
That kinda love sounds kinda crazy. Sounds a bit difficult, or a lot difficult. It is, but it is well worth the complete joy that comes with it, or after it. What Jesus endured on the cross while suffering shame, pain and rejection, didn’t give him a lot of joy. But Hebrews tells us that he endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. Sometimes we have to endure a lot in loving others so that we can experience the complete joy that Jesus is talking about it John 15.
I came to Mexico 14 years ago to help needy children. Children that have been abused, abandoned, neglected, rejected and left to die on the roadside of life. I work with a group of like minded Christians who are cooperating with God and Foundation For His Ministry in making this world a better place by helping the poorest of the poor in Oaxaca, Mexico. It’s not always easy. We don’t always get along or agree on the best way to help the least of these in this part of the world. We fail in some way everyday, but because of the grace and mercy of God we can experience complete joy. I have never been happier in my life.
Jesus promises complete joy, full happiness, when we love each other as Jesus loves us. Sometimes it hurts. Many times it can be unpleasant, but in the end it is worth it. Take a chance on that kind of love, and see what happens.
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To Enjoy God 