"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been

              the reward for what he gave."       President Calvin Coolidge

Memorial Day, 2012. In my way of thinking, this is one of the two most solemn and meaningful holidays we celebrate in our country. The other being Veteran's Day in November. Why these two days mean so much to me is that if it weren't for those whom we honor on these two occasions, we would not be here as a nation to observe the other holidays. That is how much, at least in my mind, that we owe our honored fallen and all of those who have served in the military.

Today, as you read this editorial, my wife and I will be in our nation's capital, Washington DC, and will be taking part in some of the activities honoring our country's heroes. So, I'm leaving you with some thoughts regarding this occasion and some scriptural connections to these thoughts. Thank you for considering them with me.

Memorials. They come in varied and different forms, don't they? Forms such as "days" and sometimes longer periods of time plus various material objects. One of those objects that, perhaps you've never considered as a memorial, is grave markers or headstones in cemeteries. In specific, to those whom we're honoring today, our fallen veterans, these memorials are found in cemeteries all around the world. From Europe to Asia and places in between, we've left too many of our nation's heroes buried in those countries where they fought and died.

In your mind's eye for a moment, picture those rows and rows of headstones. They all have a common feature. Inscribed upon them is the name of the person (if known) buried there. Isn't that a memorial to that person? Of course it is.

But, there's an even better location for a memorial to be inscribed. A Greek philosopher, about 400 years before Christ, said in regards to fallen military heroes, that "their praise should be found in the 'noblest of all sepulchers' graven not on stone, but in the hearts of men." Think about it, what better place could something be written that should always be remembered than our "hearts?"

It's my humble opinion from reading the scriptures, that God apparently feels this to also be the best inscription location wherein to honor and memorialize something. I base this opinion on the words found in Heb. 8:10 where we're told that God's new covenant with man would be "put in their mind" and "written on their hearts..." Then in 2Cor. 3:3 we see where the Spirit of God wrote the "teachings of Christ...not on tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart."

And, God saw the importance of establishing various forms of memorials with His people so that they would not forget the things done for them. Which is exactly the same reasoning for us having days like today set aside each year. So that we do not forget those things done for us by our soldiers in all of our wars.

President Lincoln referred to them as the "honored dead" who gave "the last full measure of devotion." - their lives for their country - us. Otherwise, if no special day were to be devoted to this cause, I can guarantee that they would be forgotten within a couple of generations. Truth be known, we should remember them every day and not just one or two days a year.

President George W. Bush accurately expressed my way of thinking regarding our continual remembrance of the fallen in a speech he gave on a Memorial Day service at the Normandy Cemetery in France. He said, regarding those buried there: "We should honor today and everyday of the lifetimes that they had hoped to live."

Think about those words for a minute and then consider that laying along side the grave of that fallen one is the grief of a parent, a wife, their children and the others who loved them and "the lifetimes they had hoped to live" with them.

While I was reading the words said by Pres. Bush at Normandy and considering my thoughts about the families, I was reminded of some words written by the apostle Paul and recorded in Romans 14:7, "For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself." How true we know that to be on occasions such as this.

Another way of honoring our fallen military is with the thoughts expressed by Gen. George Patton when he stated in a speech that, instead of mourning them, we "rather should thank God that such men lived."

I have a grave concern about this particular holiday and that concern is that I'm afraid that it has become an occasion for playing and partying. That it has just become another three-day weekend for a lot of people to travel and party. With some exceptions, doesn't it seem that, in all the pictures we see regarding memorial events, the attendees are mostly older people? Seems that way to me.

Many years ago, on another Memorial Day occasion, these words were spoken by Admiral McKinney and, in light of his thoughts, I just wonder what he would be thinking if he could see us today. Here is some of his thoughts from that long-passed occasion: "We must not allow our riches to make of us satiated citizens of weak physical characteristics, loose morals and decreased mentality. If we do so, we are not honoring those departed war heroes whom we memorialize today. They will have died in vain." To that I add my - AMEN!

So, as I've done for the past three years, I'm traveling across this great country with a large contingent of veterans en route to "The Wall" in Washington, DC. Not to say "goodbye" to those inscribed thereon, but rather to say "hello" and thank God that "such men as them lived."

In Deut. 6:12 Israel was given a warning to "take care lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt." As mentioned earlier, they were commanded to observe certain "memorials" specifically so they wouldn't forget. We now have a "new covenant" written in our "minds and hearts" and we also have a "memorial" to be observed for the same reason as the "memorials" of Israel. That we don't forget the commemoration of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ "lest we forget" the sacrifice given for our salvation.

I'm going to close with an ode taken from a poem entitled "For The Fallen" written by Laurence Binyon and inspired by those who fought and fell during "The Great War."

        "They shall grow not old, As we that are left grow old,

        Age shall not weary them, Nor the years condemn.

        At the going down of the sun, And in the morning,

        We will remember them."

Ron Covey