Decorating the graves...

I made an unexpected visit to my hometown just before Memorial Day.  While I was taking my time with my mother and a doctor's visit, my wife and middle son were out in the cemeteries fulfilling the obligation of decorating graves.  It seems that many cemeteries discourage or prohibit flowers (not surprising since many now forbid any but flat tombstones).  Not where I come from.  It is a solemn annual duty to remember the dead and to decorate graves.  It may coincide with Memorial Day and the decoration of the graves of soldiers but it goes well beyond this patriotic duty.  It is love's effort to remember and never forget those whom we love who have died.  So she and my son went from grave to grave decorating the tombstones of family members but it was  not a burden.  It was a privilege.

Remembering the dead is not morbid.  In fact, it is just the opposite.  It is one of the most important characteristics of living that the dying are remembered with thanksgiving to the Lord.  I know of old time Easter sunrise services that took place in the cemetery.  Again, this was not morbid at all.  It was a wonderful affirmation for Christians of something we have celebrated for many, many centuries.  As Israel identified the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so do we remember with thanksgiving our fathers in the faith as affirmation of the truth that they live in Christ.

We do not have any graves where we live.  We live far removed from family.  So being near the graves of loved ones who have died in the Lord is a privilege we do not take lightly.  I hope that we communicate this to our children.  It is love's duty to remember, recall, and rejoice in those who have died in the Lord and now rest from their labors...