Today is Memorial Day. Most Americans will “celebrate” with a day off of work, with cookouts, and maybe some fireworks. They’ll grill hamburgers and steaks, maybe wear red, white, and blue. Many people will think only briefly for a moment of what this holiday is supposed to be about, if they do at all.

Memorial Day should be more than just an excuse to have a three-day weekend and grill out with your friends and family. This is a day to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our freedoms. They’ve given us their lives. Is it too much to ask for us to honor them for one day?

Here’s a video that’s a real tearjerker (for me, anyways) that seemed appropriate for today.

Today, maybe visit a cemetery or memorial in your area where your local fallen are buried or remembered. A lot of cities have ceremonies or parades… attend one. 3:00 is the national moment of remembrance, so at 3:00 stop and reflect on the sacrifices our heroes have made. If you have children, sit them down and explain to them just why it is they can go to whatever church they want, whatever school they want… why it is that they can watch whatever they want on TV and why it is that they can live free. Tell them why America is the last, best hope for the world. Tell them it’s because the best and bravest among us have sacrificed everything they have to give them that freedom… and that we should be forever grateful.

It’s so little to ask of us, when they’ve done so much.

JOHN 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.