What Am I Supposed To Remember?

It’s September 11. 9/11. It’s a day most Americans will never forget…can never forget. It’s a day we remember those who lost their lives. It’s a day we remember. We remember. Remember.

Yesterday I felt the Spirit really pressing into my, pushing me, shoving me, smacking me around with regard to GRATITUDE (if you missed it, you can read it here). Today, I’m reminded of this ill-mentioned topic of gratitude. When most people think back to that morning, that day when America seemed to stop breathing, when life as we know it seemed to stop, to pause if but for a few hours.

It was horrific, yes, but it was nothing new. It came as such a surprise to residents of this country, because acts of terrorism, global acts of violence, simply don’t happen here. We are not the ones to BE attacked, but are the ones who are ON the attack. We ship up and ship out around the world to engage in battle, to engage in conflict with OTHERS, in OTHER countries, in OTHER places around the world…but not here.

We take the peace of normalcy for granted. We lack gratitude for just how good things are and yet even as I write that phrase “how good things are” I feel overwhelmed by an almost haunting sensation and question, “Is it really that good?”

We are the land of the free and home of the brave.
We own cars and homes and giant TVs.
We eat when we want, where we want, how we want (in fact, we eat so much we actually throw away the food we no longer want).
We live in a land of plenty.

Today, and tomorrow, and hopefully every day that follows for the rest of your life…of my life, don’t be distracted by normalcy, don’t be distracted by “how good things are,” don’t forget that life is fragile, delicate…a mere breath.

Remember 9/11, but, more importantly, remember that this kinda stuff happens on a daily basis around the world. Don’t allow this relative sense of peace to veil your eyes from the global calamity we, humanity, face each and every day.

Remember the cross. Remember the empty tomb.

Remember.

Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23–26