Lest We Forget

Lest we forget.... sometimes I wonder if we have already. What is it that we are not wanting to forget? I struggle with people who refuse to wear a poppy based on pacifism belief. Really? I beleive strongly in peace. I believe that is what Jesus means when he tells us to love our neighbor. However, I am also a child of a man who went to war, WWII, and came home maimed, and with flashbacks that would wake him up in a swet!

As a child I always thought my dad was a hero. I remember sitting on his knee, and looking at the schrapnel wounds, tracing my finger around them. I remember looking at his tatoo, that said "mother" on it. I remember that my dad didn't want to talk about it... about war. At least not in a bragging way. And there were huge reasons behind that. I think primarily because in hindsight, and especially since he accepted Jesus as his Lord... my dad didn't think war was right.

Sure, it was exciting. All the boys enlisted, leaving many moms wiping tears as they hugged them good bye. My grandma Thomas gave my dad a little New Testatment Bible and asked that my dad would read it every day. In my dad's biography (that he had just started writing prior to his death) my dad said that he promised his mom he would, and he did. Sometimes reading it in the terrein (spelling? I meant the washroom) but none the less, always keeping the promise he made to his mom. He said that when he laid in the field in Italy, wounded and thinking that he was going to die before he was found, he remembered thinking that he hoped his mom would think he had given his life to Jesus, and find some peace. I have often thought of that... he realized his need, and yet, even so close to death, still didn't make the decision to follow Jesus until many years later. Intersting how one can come close to death and still not decide!

My father, as he got older, and because of his love for Jesus, became a proclaimer of peace. My dad went into schools and talked with students. Telling them to not forget the atrocity of war, but to remember so that in the future, war does not happen again. I often wonder what my dad would be thinking as he watched the free press publish pictures of the young men and women who are dying today in the name of peace...

My father, wore the poppy proud. I look at his medals from time to time, and run my finger along them. I remember sitting on his knee tracing his wounds. I remember also, my mom telling me how my dad would wake up in fright as he flashed back to war during his sleep. It was because of the war, and being in a hospital in England before coming back to Winnipeg, that my dad was connected to my mom's brother, and then to her. A love story amidst the pain and loss of war.

My dad came back and was reunited with his mom and dad. Although my grandma went to her unexpected death still knowing her son had not yet given his life to Jesus. My dad had the little New Testament in his breastpocket when he was wounded... and had some schrnapnel wounds to his chest. I can't help but believe that the Word protected his heart that day. My sister has that little NT, rebound, but precious and with such a history ...

Lest we forget... I wear the poppy and have since I was old enough to get one in school. Lest we forget that there are families all over, mourning the loss of children and spouses, moms and dads who beleived in "peace"... lest we forget that we live in a free country. I think we take that for granted. Lest we forget that wearing a poppy doesn't mean we are advocating war, but instead remembering that it happened, and war should never happen again!

May Jesus give us the grace and strength to ascertain WHO is our neighbor and to realize that it is far reaching and embracing... and may He give us the love. He modelled it, we need to follow.

Today, I will watch the Remembrance Day memorials. I will weep. I will weep because I miss my dad too. I will weep for the moms and dads who are missing their children, and men and women who are missing a spouse. I will weep because even in the midst of this free country of Canada... we are still asking WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR and miss the opportunity to reach out... Lord, give us the strength. Lord, give me the peace to love with a love that comes only from you. Amen.