Remembered

Step after step in unison they marched, accenting the weight of each boot upon the carpet so that everyone in that banquet room could hear. Not an eye wandered, each man in his dress uniform staring straight ahead as they slowly moved across the assembled guests. Near a small round table, the squad leader halted them and faced them to the center. Then he moved to the second man and slowly saluted him, before taking from his outstretched hands the folded flag. In return, the one no longer carrying his nation’s colors, saluted. Next, the sergeant marched in silence to the empty table and placed the folded flag upon it. Returning, he aligned himself in front of the next man in line. From this one’s hands, he took another folded flag. Instead of saluting as before, he turned to his right and waited while the last man in formation moved to join him. Slowly the two unfolded the mostly black flag. Then, with reverence and precision, the younger soldier snapped the flag in place on a thin pole, beside the empty table set for one. Across the bottom of that flag were printed the words, “You are not forgotten.”

We who are soldiers pledge not to forget our fallen and missing comrades—those brave men who never came home. Where they languish in captivity, or died on lost and lonely landscape is unknown. That is only part of what fills our minds. What matters more is that we honor them, soldiers who swore to protect their nation knowing they might give the supreme sacrifice. In this case, to remember is to value—it is a spiritual concept breathed by our Creator! Moreover, tugging our hearts is that inner hope that if we were in their place we would not be forgotten.

Meditation
Isaiah 49:14-16—Zion says, “The LORD has abandoned me; The Lord has forgotten me!” “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you. Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.”

Imagine if God forgot us. Imagine if we died and our bodies turned to dust and our souls were nothing more than some wind carried, siren song. Imagine if there was no homecoming because the Maker saw no need to forgive, restore, and perpetuate. Fortunately, the same God who promised never to forget the nation of Israel, sent His Son who promised us, “My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27,28).

When was the last time you thanked God for a Savior that always remembers? . . . something to think about . . . in reveration!

Inspiration
There is nothing so secure as the salvation of God; it is as eternal as the mountains, and it is our trust in God that brings us the conscious realization of this.—Oswald Chambers in The Pilgrim’s Song Book