It's Memorial Day again.  I, along with all my neighbors, mowed the lawn and worked in the lawn.  It was a beautiful day.  Sunny and 80 degrees.  It's the kind of day to go out and make new memories.

A day like this reminds me of Memorial Day weekends growing up.  I always knew where we would spend the weekend and what we would do.  Our church had a campout in an American Legion park.  My mother would pack food for two days, and on Friday we would pack up the pop-up camper and head to the park.  If you didn't know it was there, you would never find the park.  It was down a long gravel road across from a farm where friends from church lived.

When we arrived, we would immediately find our friends.  There would be softball games, swimming and boating in the Kishwaukee River, and of course camp fires.

On Sunday we would have the church service there, and all the non-campers would join us for the day.  That is when the official all-church softball game always took place.

Monday we would of course honor those who gave their lives in service for our country.  Because that is what Memorial Day is really all about.

Someone would talk about those who made "the ultimate sacrifice" for us. Now don't get me wrong, I am grateful that men and women are willing to join the armed forces, and I do honor those who died as a result.  They have purchased our freedom and insured our national security.  But I'm puzzled why that is called a sacrifice.  Their sacrifice was to give their lives to the armed forces. They did not choose to die.

There is only One who made the ultimate sacrifice.  He chose to die for us to give us true freedom.  He came to earth in order to die and rise again.  And He did it for us.  Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice.

So honor those who died in battle.  But also remember the One who gave His life to purchase your salvation.  Honor Jesus, who died so you may live.

And have a wonderful day.  By the way, what are you doing, sitting and reading a blog on a beautiful day like this?  Go out and make some memories!

Yesterday, May 14th, I woke up to find a heavy frost.  I checked the plants we had just purchased and planted, then got ready to travel to our 2-year-old granddaughter's birthday party.  And this is what we drove through:

This would have been beautiful in December, but in May it was just a nuisance and a disappointment.  We had hoped for nice warm weather for the party, but instead we got THIS!

​But why the difference in attitude?  In the beginning of one season, we celebrate the snow.  Toward the end of the next season, we despise it.  Why don't we always love it or always hate it?

It is a matter of perspective.  At one point we anticipate the beauty of Christmas and the winter season, and our expectation is that we will have snow.  In the next season we anticipate the beauty of warmth and flowers. Snow has no part in that scenario.

That makes me wonder:  Do I miss the gifts God is giving me today because I don't expect them?  Is my anticipation for what I would choose rather than what God wants me to have?  How many times do I turn away from the blessings that are falling around me because they seem cold and white when I want warm & bright feelings?

We know that God gives only good gifts.  And we know that He loves us.  And yet we try to pick and choose what seems good to us.  We need to trust God to know what is best and to give us that best, even when it comes in the form of difficult circumstances or people.  

We need to believe that He is who He says He is, and we are who He says we are.  In other words, we need to be willing to be dependent on God for all things, beginning with our very lives.  And that dependence will never end, since He has promised that if we believe in Jesus, our life with Him will be forever.

Lord, I am tired of missing all you have for me.  From now on, I will trust you to give me joy in the blessings you pour into my life, in whatever form they may come.  Even snow.