"Remember"

Today is a day of remembrance. The speaker at Centerville's Veteran's day ceremony put it well when she said, "Veteran's day is not a holiday it is a memorial day." It is a day to remember what others have given to gain and preserve our freedom as a Nation. As we remember the service of our veterans we naturally turn to gratefulness for their service. So, today we remember and thank our veteran's.

On another day, some two thousand years ago, Jesus called his disciples to remembrance. He took the cup, broke the bread and said, "Do this in remembrance of me." Every time we participate in Communion we are invited to remember that Jesus' body was broken and his blood was spilled out so that through his act we can come into and live in relationship with God. Our remembrance then most naturally turns to gratefulness. As Romans 5 says, "God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners he died for us." Praise be to God!

So, where are you today? Has this been the best day of your life or the worst or just another ho-hum day of routine. I urge you to stop and remember. Remember Jesus. Remember his sacrifice. He loved you so much he received a punishment for which he was not guilty, he experienced pain he did not have to go through and he died so you could live. Receive his love for the first time or for the 1000th time as though it is the first. Then let your remembrance turn to thanks. Thank God out loud for his love for you. Thank God for his faithfulness in your past. Thank God for the fact that he will make a way for you in your future. Thank God for being with you and promising to never leave.

When we make time to remember it leads us to gratitude and where we find reason to give thanks we remember what makes life worth living!