For those who give so much!
Last Friday was the seventy first anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor out in what is now the state of Hawaii! Around three thousand suddenly brave men and women sacrificed their lives in the beginning vanguard of the hundreds of thousands who would follow their lead and example during the next four years of war. In the last presidential election, Mitt Romney’s wife Ann was heavily criticized for making the observation that there are other ways of serving rather than going into the military. People pointed out that her husbands service to the Mormon church in France during the Vietnam period in no way equated to the thousands who were killed or gravely wounded during that tumultuous period of America’s history. Perhaps they are right that a life lost in some way is worth more than a life spent in service, but, it belies the fact that there are millions of people around this world who do put the needs of things higher than their own self interests in play when they choose the pathways of their lives.
We are reminded that our current president had the choice with his education and his intelligence to choose a path that might have made him very wealthy and influential in the legal and financial world. Instead, he chose a life of service that began with community organizing on the streets of Chicago, Illinois. There have been, and continue to be, great risks in what Barack Obama does. It has been said that when you are at the podium speaking, you are just a few feet too far removed for any assistance if some one wants to harm you. And, it has also been noted that living a life of fear is far less preferable than perhaps dying for something worth that kind of sacrifice. We all know fear at one time or another as we remember the reverend Martin Luther King’s look of almost complete horror at a noise behind him as he spoke in Memphis just the night before he was assassinated.
We all travel the roads that we travel and when we look back at the close of it all, sometimes we wonder if we made the right choices in life. Age can bring a form of wisdom that comes with hindsight if we are willing to spend the time engaging in that kind of activity. Some simply never do and perhaps miss the pangs that regret can do to help cleanse the soul.
Mitt Romney spent two years of his life as a missionary for the Mormon church, fulfilling a requirement that Mormon’s have as a vibrant being in that church. There are others of other faiths, however, who have spent far longer periods in bringing the message of faith and love and charity that almost all faiths have as the foundation of their being. There are millions of Barack Obama’s out there who never get nor ask for any credit for the good works and good deeds that they do on a constant basis in their lives. In point of fact, the Christian Bible states that those who believe are never to seek the spotlight for what they do but are to remain anonymous and give all credit to the higher power that is the north star of their lives.
When one gives out of the goodness of their hearts and their faith they usually find, after a time, that they receive so much more back than they have given when they are freed from the shackles of the evident greed that comes from wanting something, if only recognition, in return for what they do. The quiet soul who buys someone’s breakfast at the local restaurant who is otherwise anonymous to them gives something that pure words cannot adequately describe. It is in the realm of feelings that a life spent doing that sort of thing gives to those who participate in it can only describe. And, they never do.
But, there are those who give so much more than that!
We have known many souls throughout our lives who have put service ahead of everything else. And many have done so for their God! There are many in this life who do not believe in God but for those who do, they follow the tenants of their faiths and place their lives constantly on the line as they often must make choices surrounding a personal life and death that will mean the end of their times on this earth. And, so many of them do this willingly and gladly because they know that there is something far greater awaiting them. In the Christian faith, those who truly believe know that their savior did the same thing for all of them that is sometimes asked of those who follow in his footsteps and his time on the cross. It is a compelling story when a king from on high comes to earth and suffers the trials and tribulations of his followers when that really wasn’t something that he really had to do. But, following in that tradition of service and ultimate sacrifice, was done none the less. And, the message has always been the same. If one wants to serve in the coming kingdom, however great it might be, one must first serve those who are the least on this earth, because in doing so, they serve their king.
It is the time of year for joy and gladness as we approach that special birthday that so many look forward to all the year around. Both Christians and non Christians acknowledge that something very special happened almost two thousand years ago. But, the time of service goes on each and every day of the year. And, the asking for nothing in return except the knowledge that it was done that will be lost along with everything else of this world but to one when the transition comes.
IOVHO,
Regards,
Joe
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