Between Memorial Day and D-Day
In Billy Graham’s devotional, Unto the Hills, there is a reference to the Indian city of Kohima located far up in the Himalayan Mountains. A cemetery near that city holds the bodies of hundreds of Allied soldiers who were killed repulsing the Japanese advance into India during World War II. The nationalities of those interred there include not only Indians, but Americans, British, and others as well, all of whom died to preserve freedom.
Graham reports that near the entrance to this cemetery is an engraved memorial with the words, “They gave their tomorrow that you might have today.” What a powerful reminder this is here on this Friday after Memorial Day and just prior to the 79th anniversary of D-Day.
Every American owes an enormous debt of gratitude to all those who have given their lives in the past and those who are sacrificing theirs right now that we might be free. Indeed, millions of people around the world also enjoy freedom thanks to those who paid the ultimate price on the battlefield.
As I reflected on the memorial mentioned above, I could hear those who had given their tomorrows speaking out of their graves and across the years asking us what we were doing with the todays they died to give us. Are we using what they shed their blood for for our own personal advantage or to help and bless others even as did they?
Certainly we each should pause to remember those who willingly went to foreign jungles, mountains, beaches, cities, deserts, and fields never to return. And as we remember, we must express our thanks to them even if their ears are unable now to hear us.
But the greatest way we can show our remembrance and our gratitude is by using wisely the todays they have given us. Instead of wasting them watching television, scrolling Facebook, or playing video games, how can we use the precious gifts of life, liberty, and opportunity to glorify God and bless others? All too soon we will join them beneath the sod and our chance to be a blessing will have ended.
So many have given their tomorrows for our benefits today. Although not killed in battle, William Tyndale believed that everyone should have the Bible in their own tongue and used his time and energy to translate it into English. His conviction and work got him strangled to death in 1536 and then burned at the stake after that.
Tyndale is one of many who sacrificed much to give us the precious Word of God in a language we can read. Because he and others surrendered their tomorrows, we can enjoy our Bibles today. There is no better way to honor them than by reading and obeying this holy Book.
Billy Graham also wrote that if “one suffers without succeeding, he can be sure that the success will come in someone else’s life. If he succeeds without suffering, he can be equally sure that someone else has already suffered for him.” Such truth in such few words.
Very rarely does success or blessing come without someone suffering somewhere somehow. Either in battle, in labor, in effort, or in some other way, others have suffered and endured that we might enjoy the abundance of blessings we take for granted each day.
Although these truths help us appreciate the sacrifices of our veterans and martyrs who gave all, they point ultimately to the One who suffered most that we might be blessed the most. Jesus Christ suffered the weight of our sin and punishment that we might succeed spiritually and in every way. He gave all that we might have all.
As we reflect on those who gave their tomorrows that we might have our todays, may we thank God for each of them and use the todays they have given us to honor them, glorify God, and serve others.
Blessings, George