This week is Veterans Day. This holiday started as a day to reflect upon the heroism of those who died in our country's service and was originally called Armistice Day. November 11 was chosen as the date because that is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. However, in 1954, the holiday was changed to "Veterans Day" to account for all veterans in all wars. The tradition was to celebrate at 11:11 a.m. each November 11. Big cities and small villages and their people all over America gathered to focus on the debt of gratitude they owed to the men and women who served.
Today it is still a federal holiday, but state and local governments get to decide what is open and closed. Though it once was common for special ceremonies and parades to be held, that doesn’t happen too much anymore. But many people still celebrate and honor veterans in personal ways. Now that we have social media, many Americans honored their family veterans by posting pictures and stories of grandparents, parents, siblings, children, and spouses who served in one of the branches of our armed services. Some honor veterans by wearing a red poppy on November 11. This symbol of sacrifice has been worn since World War I. Many restaurants often offer complimentary coffee, breakfast, or lunch for veterans. I and many others say “thank you” to everyone they see in uniform or wearing a veteran’s hat.
We need to be careful to remember and honor our veterans. In our day of cynicism and criticism of our nation and different values, it is extremely easy for the attitudes of the day to spill over into our respect and value of those who defend and protect our freedom. Taking our freedom and privileges for granted and the people who sacrificed to provide them is a dangerous slide away from integrity and endangers all of us.
I wonder if we really understand the price that people have paid for our freedom. We are all aware that America is far from perfect. In fact, because our nation gives freedom to everyone to express themselves, we hear over and over every single day about the flaws of the United States. This freedom to express myself even in negative ways is provided to me by the multiplied sacrifices of the men and women who voluntarily choose to sacrifice on behalf of people who then may protest, harass, and picket them. They sacrifice their time, physical, and mental strength. They spend long periods of time away from family and friends, and many are called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice of their lives.
Perhaps the best way to honor those who sacrificed for all of us in such ways is much more than a meal or a poppy or a post. It’s by living with respect, kindness, courtesy, and justice for all – treating each other with the love exemplified by their sacrifice, and even more, the kind of love commanded by Jesus.
And we can do even more to benefit all of us. The Kingdom of God has an Enemy. There is a spiritual war being waged all the time where the stakes are even higher than in any physical war our nation has ever fought. Followers of Jesus are needed and called by Jesus to step up and join the fight. This is not a defensive war, as many Christians have been taught to see it. We are guaranteed to win. Our King Jesus secured our victory by His sacrificial death and resurrection and empowerment. Now the job is ours. It’s an amazing responsibility and privilege. We get to pray and serve and love like Jesus to bring His Kingdom to everyone for whom He died.
Join the war that will be won by loving and sacrificing like Jesus.