Memorial Day is a day to remember those who have made all that we have today possible–especially those in the military who gave their lives for our freedoms. Yet it is often just cookouts and vacation. It is our duty to remember the past. You know the old saying, “Those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” Not only that, but God commands us to remember all that He has done for us and to teach those things to our children.
Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.” Deuteronomy 4:9 ESV
We are to tell our stories to our children. God has done great things in our lives. He has shown up and acted in our behalf. He has given us many blessings. Read on in the Bible and you will see that those who do not tell their children about what God has done will end up with children who do not know and love God. Discipleship starts with discipling our own children. It all starts with remembering and telling stories!
We are to tell our stories to our children. God has done great things in our lives. Click To TweetRemembering on Memorial Day
There are lots of things you can do on Memorial Day to remember the blessings God has given us.
- Look at old photographs and talk about your blessings. If you have photos of family members or friends in the military, focus on those. Describe their specific duties as service men and women.
- If you are having a cookout, use photos of real service men and women. You could
- Scrapbook your own memories on this day. Kids love making thier own special scrapbooks. You can also use an online program. Shutterfly is my favorite–fantastic quality and easy to use. (I use to be a photographer by trade. I am pretty picky. They really are awesome.)
- Send a card to a veteran you know. Make a care package to send to soldiers currently in service.
- Place flowers on the grave of a loved one who has passed on.
- Take some time to pray. Thank God for the those who have paved the way for us. You can use this printable as a prayer guide or add it to your prayer journal.
Thank You
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” 1 John 3:16 ESV
So today we want to say thank you to all of veterans who have given everything they had so we could live in a country that gives us our freedom. THANK YOU!
How do you celebrate Memorial Day?
I love the idea of telling the stories from our past. I have grandparents, uncles, father, husband, friends who have all served. I think we have to tell the stories to help the next generation understand what freedom really means.
Jennifer DeFrates/Heaven Not Harvard recently posted…Memorial Day Grace and Perspective from one Army Wife
I do think it’s important to share what Memorial Day is all about with your family. The meaning behind it can easily get forgotten or replaced by other things if we don’t take the time to actively remember. I really like the idea of visiting loved ones graves and leaving a memorial.
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I also just adore Shutterfly! Their products are fantastic, but so is their customer service. We ordered a custom wedding guestbook with a leather cover from them and there were a couple of extra pieces they added to the intro page. Nothing major, but when we brought it to their attention, they admitted the mistake had been a company issue and sent us out a second book at no cost–while letting us keep the first one! Great quality, great products, just love them! I was so glad to see that you do, as well!
We have ordered from them many times and only had one issue, which they fixed right away. I love that they are getting more and more specialty products to choose from too!
These are really great suggestions. Growing up we would put flowers on graves and it was a great way to connect us to those already passed on. I like the idea of using real service men in the pictures at your BBQ.
Alison recently posted…Easy Antipasto Skewers
These are great ways to making Memorial Day more than spending the day at the pool!
This has been a good introduction to memorial day. I also enjoyed the associated scriptures, particularly as many blogs are solely about fashion 😉
a LOT of wonderful ideas for making it a meaningful holiday – it’s NOT just about the barbeque….
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Wonderful post, it is great to make memorial day memorable and having special moments with the family.
May I add, in our country, we don’t have memorial day celebration but we often have get together with families and relatives and it is a nice day to celebrate together.
I love this post. I agree it is so very important to remember those that have fought sacrificed for the freedoms we have, especially the freedom to worship a God who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Thank you for the reminder to make sure we make today meaningful.
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This is fantastic! My 8 year old LOVES learning about the World Wars and military stuff in general (fighter jets, etc) so he knows what Memorial Day is for. We don’t go out of our way (unfortunately) to do something special on this day, but these are great ideas!
Thanks. Our sons would get along great. He is 9 and those are his bears in the picture. He has always loved anything military.
Memorial day is always tough for me. My best friend from high school was killed in Afganistan 7 years ago.
I’m sorry for your loss. Those are the kinds of things we never get over.
It’s so important for people to remember the significance of Memorial Day. We need to remember the sacrifices that others have made to preserve our freedom.
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You offer some real thoughtful ways to remember Memorial Day. As a retired military family, nothing warms my heart more than the kindness of showing your appreciation by sending notes or care packages to those deployed, especially for the single men and women who may not have the same support as those with families.
Thanks for your family’s service!
Remembering Memorial Day is so important. I make sure that my children understand what this day means and to know that it’s not really a day to celebrate but to remember.
We focus on family for memorial Day, for the simple reason that many men on both sides of the family, My husband and his father included, have served in all branches of the military. The Hewitts have a tradition of joining the marines.
These are great ideas. My SO is in the military. Even though he’s active duty and not a veteran, I still like to give him some credit on Memorial Day.
Active duty definitely deserves to be recognized too. Thank your son for his service!
These are such great ideas! Kinds don’t always understand the meaning of Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day other than a it’s a day off form school. Thanks for sharing these!
We love to celebrate and look at the meaning behind the holidays. It makes them even more special.
Memorial Day often becomes a day of drinking and overindulgence with very few people taking the time to really think about why we have it. I’m a veteran and although memorial day is different than Veterans Day, i like to take time to reflect on my own service and the sacrifices of those who gave all. Thanks for this post.
Thank you for your service!
I love scrap-booking my memories with Shutterfly too! Thanks for the mindful post.