Monday; May 26

Happy Memorial Day!

Throughout my life, Memorial Day has been one of my favorite national holidays.  I think that, when I was a kid, it was more about the timing of the day.  It was the beginning of beach weather, baseball season was in full swing, and we were counting down the last days of school before summer vacation.  Not bad reasons to have a holiday, right?

As I have aged (and matured) I find that I still like Memorial Day.  These days it’s less about getting out the grill or having a day to fertilize the lawn; rather, it is a day set aside to reflect.  As much as we’d like to believe that we are self-made people, so much of who we are comes from the people who have gone before us.  Some of them fought and died for the freedom of our nation, but many more of them lived and taught us about what made us good people.  I am grateful that we take the time to honor our military heroes, but I also believe that we should take some time to give credit (and remembrance) to those who made us who we are.  It may have been a family member, schoolteacher, Bible Class teacher, coach or the guy down the street, but those of us who have found our niche in life owe at least some of our success to our influences.

Who helped shape you into who you are today?  Do they know it?  If they are alive today, tell them about it.  If not, tell someone else about the influence they had on you.  When we keep these memories alive, we will keep passing the good from one generation to the next.

Think About It!

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