MEMORIAL DAY........PEACE ON EARTH??

My mind is racing and my emotions are running high today, so I hope that this post will bless both the reader and the writer........please bear with me as I try to document my feelings without babbling! (And, by the way, I do plan someday, to try to get caught up again and stay caught up with current events in my life!)  So, today is Memorial Day........a day that I love, but a day that is difficult for me every year.  I come from a "major" military background, and LOVE it........I wouldn't change a thing!  My father and father-in-law served in the US Navy, as did many of my dad's brothers.  My husband served in the US Navy, and my son served in the US Navy.  My dad, my husband, and my son all served in wartime, and well as in peacetime.  I am SO grateful to all of them, as well as ALL of the Veterans who have served to protect us and the freedoms that we all enjoy today as a result of their service.  I don't really remember a lot of how we celebrated Memorial Day as a child, but I do know that as an adult, I now know how important that it is to remember WHY we celebrate.  Having so many members of my family that served, and having now lost both my father and my husband, makes Memorial Day a very bittersweet day for me.  I do LOVE all of the pomp and circumstance that goes into the celebration, especially the music.  I love music anyway, but the patriotic hymns are some of my favorites!  In remembering and celebrating this day, my mind continues to dwell on why we can't seem to find peace on this earth through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Understand that I know that there is sin in this world, always has been, and always will be........but God gives us a pattern for living in, His Word, and I just wish that everyone would turn to that Word in order to try to attain that peace.  God is the God of peace!  "Lord, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us."  Isaiah 26:12 NKJV.  There are so many Scriptures that we can find pertaining to peace........in fact, the word 'peace' appears 429 times in the King James version of the Bible!  So, why does peace seem to elude us so easily??  I don't have the answer to that question, with the exception of what I mentioned earlier regarding there being sin in the world.  There is one verse of Scripture that God brought to mind for me when I was reading through some of the words to some patriotic hymns that we sing around this time of year.  The name of the song is "In Christ There is No East or West," and it is based on a  passage in Acts.  "Then Peter opened his mouth and said:  'In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.  But in every nation, whoever fears Him and works righteousness, is accepted by Him.'"  Acts 10:34,35 NKJV.  I also love the words to the second verse of our National Anthem.  You almost never hear this verse sung, unless it is in church........kind of "preaching to the choir," I'd say, but nevertheless,  I have to share them here, it is just on my heart!

                        "O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand, Between their loved homes
                        and the war's desolation!  Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-
                        rescued land, Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
                        Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just; And this be our motto:
                        'In God is our trust!'  And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
                        O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"
                                                ~Francis Scott Key

In God we must trust........seems so simple, doesn't it??  Today, on Memorial Day, May 27, 2013, I am going to resolve to try to do my part to bring as much peace to this world as I can possibly bring, myself.  Of course, you know that another song is coming, I just can't resist it........I told you that I just love music!

                        "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.  Let there be peace
                        on earth, the peace that was meant to be.  With God as our Father, brothers
                        all are we.  Let me walk with my brother in perfect harmony.  Let peace
                        begin with me; let this be the moment now.  With every step I take, let this
                        be my solemn vow:  To take each moment, and live each moment in peace
                        eternally!  Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."
                                                ~Sy Miller & Jill Jackson

So, I leave you with what has become one of my most favorite verses of Scripture lately, from the Gospel of John.  "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you."  John 14:27a NKJV.  And pictures of my son, husband, and father, from their time in the military.

Joseph Raymond Noel Smith

Bruce Raymond Smith

George King Blankenship