Today I share a repeat post because the purpose of pausing to consider the cost of freedom doesn’t end.

Today in the United States we pause to celebrate Memorial Day.

Most will celebrate it with picnics, boating, ball games, swimming, family, and friends. A few will pause for those remaining public celebrations to commemorate the day. Fewer still will visit the graves of those fallen for the sake of freedom or know when this commemoration began or the cost for those who gave us the freedom to celebrate it.

Originally it was called Decoration Day and that is the name I recall when I was a young child. Its purpose? To provide a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America.

It was born out of the United States Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, proclaimed the day officially on May 5, 1868, and asked that the 30^th of May 1868 be designated for the purpose of strewing the graves of those who had died in the defense of their country with flowers and flags.

Most of us would not recall that Memorial Day began with that bloodiest of all United States wars. The country would be torn in two with the Union of the North raising an army of 2,128,948 and the Confederacy of the South mustering a total of 1,082,119 troops. It was a war that would be fought in thousands of places from southern Pennsylvania to Texas, from New Mexico to Florida with most of the battles fought in Virginia and Tennessee.

Between April 12, 1861, when Fort Sumter, South Carolina, was fired upon until April 9, 1865, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the McLean House in Appomattox Court House, Virginia, 620,000 would die for the cause they believed in. They would die from combat, accident, starvation, and disease. Of that number, the three-day battle on the fields around Gettysburg, PA, in 1863, would see the largest number fall. A total of 51,000 would be dead by the end of the battle.

It can be easy to forget how significant the losses were during the Civil War. Yet, our love for freedom would stir the hearts of others to serve in battles far from our own coastline. In World War II 405,399 would give their lives following the brutal conditions faced during World War I when 116,516 would fall in battle.

Of course, these would not be the only battles where men and women would give their lives for the cause of freedom. In Vietnam we would sacrifice 58,209 and in Korea we would lose 36, 516.

To establish this nation, 25,000 would die in the Revolutionary War. Another 20,000 would die in the War of 1812 and 13,283 in the Mexican War. The Spanish-American War would result in a loss of 2,446.

More recently 6,626 would be lost in battle in Iraq and Afghanistan with another 258 falling during the Gulf War.

How much do we value this freedom?

How much do we take it for granted or use it to serve our own ends rather than for the good of our brothers and sisters?

When we speak of a fight for freedom, men, and women, despite their fear or condition, held the value for liberty and the release of tyranny so foremost among their beliefs that they were willing to leave those they loved most to serve those they had never met.

As I took time to visit a small country cemetery in Ohio near where I live, I was struck as I always am by the number of American flags that had been placed on the graves of our veterans. This cemetery is adjacent to a church founded in the 1840’s.

In the oldest part of the cemetery where the gravestones are often not readable, I found flags adorning the graves of two Civil War veterans. One had died in 1865 and another in 1866. I read their names: James Turner and James Shaw. I wondered what they had seen in their time on the battlefield and if their deaths shortly after the war came because of wounds that never healed.

We can never repay the debt we owe to so many.

We can also never repay the debt we owe to the One who came to give us grace and freedom from sin, the One who suffered for us at great expense to purchase what we could not gain without His payment.

During all the fun and celebrating we may do this day, let us not forget to be thankful, to sober our hearts, to give thanks for so many who gave all they had for our sakes. Let us also thank God for His love beyond measure in what He sacrificed for us.

Freedom is never free.

Others will always want to take it from us, to enslave us. Let us remember to cherish it, not abuse it for our own selfish ends, or fail to recognize the responsibility we must uphold and guard it because of the great cost paid to grant it.

One of my favorite activities growing up was coloring in a coloring book. I was always a lousy artist, but this was my substitute back in the days before iPods, iPads, and an assortment of electronics that captivate children today. There are several adults in our family who still enjoy coloring in those wonderful new intricately designed books that are popular now. Sometimes I join them.

The one disappointment for me in childhood was never having the big box that gave me every shade I might want to consider as I colored in my pages. In most areas of my life, I enjoy a lot of variety. It shows up with that desire for more different crayons and in the wide variety of music that I enjoy as well.

It doesn’t stop there.

I love getting to know different people, learning about their stories, hearing about the paths where the Lord has led them, finding out what excites them and fuels their passions, and how the harder times in their lives were used by the Lord. Yes, I am an extrovert, but I most prefer sitting with one person while we share a great latte or cup of tea for an unrushed time of relating.

Taking time to listen, share stories, and getting to know someone beyond the quick greeting on a shopping trip or even at church is an investment well worth the time. That kind of relating not only allows us to know someone else better, but we also see glimpses of the Lord and often learn something about ourselves in the process if we are listening well.

Most of us would say we are “busy”, but busy and urgent should never take the place of better and important.

I love and so much agree with this quote by Barbara Bush:

“At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent.”

Sometimes we get in the way of opportunities relationally because of our own perspective about others or ourselves. We may believe we have nothing to offer the other person. We may believe that we have nothing in common.

And we may be wrong.

When I finished reading Unified by Tim Scott and Trey Gowdy, I was reminded of the blessings that can come from unlikely friendships where we set aside our misperceptions. Listen to one of the things Trey writes in the book:

“I don’t care how great things appear to be going in someone else’s life; we all need somebody we can trust, that we can be fully candid with, and who will give us the best advice for us and not just for them.”

A few paragraphs later he adds:

“Relationships where people put the other person first and remain committed to giving their best counsel for the benefit of the other person are few and far between……Once you know someone will keep a confidence, give you sound counsel, and genuinely have your best interest at heart, there is no limit to what you can share, and there is no limit to what can be gained.”

One of the things that stands out to me is how often Jesus took time to relate to people. Yes, He spoke and taught huge crowds at various points, but the gospels give us many glimpses of how He noticed someone that others bypassed. He took time for conversations with some that his earthly heritage and religious teaching would have told Him to avoid.

Jesus never compromised who He was in the process of valuing someone else enough to take time to listen and engage with him or her.

Polarization and divisiveness are so commonplace today that we can be tempted to think our differences are too great to have any common ground. But what would happen if we had a real desire to get to know someone beyond the differences? What if we utilized that knowledge and those different perspectives to make each other better?  What if we were to look for common ground at a heart level first?

I think we learn far less if we stick with only those who look like us, think like us, come from our side of town, or have the same educational background.

Consider the unlikely friendship between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel of the Old Testament. David was a shepherd boy who knew how to sing and initially brought peace to the troubled heart of Jonathan’s father, King Saul. Jonathan was of royal blood and privilege. These two would not have typically developed a friendship much less one of a covenantal depth. They would have been from opposite sides of town in those days, but spending time together allowed them to know each other’s hearts until they were knit in an exceptional bond of friendship that caused Jonathan to risk his father’s rejection rather than betray David.

When we look for a solution to our divided culture, our search seems to be in the wrong place. It won’t come from a program or any number of other forums. I think Tim Scott describes a better way in Unified:

“Politics is not going to change the nation. We will change the nation only by changing the condition of the human heart. And that can only happen through love. True friendship is born out of acceptance and unconditional love – a love that is consistent and intentional.”

The Lord’s challenge to us is always about love. Our challenge is to remember He is the source of love within us, and we need to model love as He did.

The love of Jesus was and is always consistent and intentional.

That is where we start.

I remember the day we came to this spot on the trail we had chosen. The first part of the trek had given us no clue this would be farther along on the trail after we were more weary and ready to return to our lodging. It was getting in the way of a leisurely hike and setting us up for using up our stamina and putting us at risk for the difficulty of the path ahead. We would have wished for the path to continue that we had experienced before, but that was not the path and there was no other way except to press on.

How like us that is! We move out in a direction that looks right or uncomplicated or less risky and more doable, and then we discover there were things ahead that challenged us and made us doubt and want to turn back.

It can be true in every area of our lives, and it can be true in our spiritual lives as well. Perhaps that is more a temptation now than in times past as our faith and courage to hold fast to our values and beliefs are tested on every level and arena we find ourselves. The path ahead is not as clearly marked and rockier than we think we have skill to manage and yet it is the path the Lord has charted out.

“One who has made up his mind to go to the uttermost with God will come to a place as unexpected and perhaps looking as impossible to travel as that riverbed looks. He may glance around for an alternative route, but if he wants what God promises His faithful ones, he must go straight into the danger. There is no other way.”

Elisabeth Elliott

We hear that echoed in Christ’s words in the Garden of Gethsemane when He knew the path before Him and had chosen and yet asked his Father, God, if it would be possible to take that cup from Him. But there was no other way if Christ were to accomplish what He had been sent to earth to do that would open a door to eternity with Him to any who would believe. It was the choice before Christ that He knew God required Him to obey and surrender.

Surrender is not a word or a choice we want to make. It seems innate in us. We fight to be free. We fight to have our own way. We fight to gain something. We fight to live. To surrender seems unthinkable and a way of defeat that we cannot see as right. But it does not mean we are to give up, but rather to know when and what we are to surrender.

“Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.”

1 Peter 4:12-13 (MSG)

God wants us to discern where we are in the story – his story and our story.

The truth is that we don’t always see that clearly or recognize that we don’t.

In J.R.R.Tolkien’s epic trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, we first meet Frodo as a carefree hobbit living in the Shire anticipating the celebration of his uncle’s birthday. The Shire had been a peaceful place and it was to be a grand party, but that was only a small segment of the story Frodo was a part of. He didn’t know about the secret of the ring his uncle possessed or the powers it contained and represented. Even when Gandalf fills in some of the details, Frodo cannot fathom the evil connected to the power of the ring.

Men, elves, dwarves, wise sages, and even hobbits believed they could use the power of the ring for good despite its evil. They had been captivated by it and longed for it for ages past. Battles had been fought and lost in its quest. To think that it could only be managed by destroying it was hard to grasp, but when the ultimate decision was reached to take the ring to Mt. Doom to destroy it using a fellowship of those committed to it none realized the path ahead would destroy more than one of them. Even Frodo did not initially realize there was no other way.

The Lord of the Rings allows us to see stories within a story unfolding at the same time testing individuals, cultures, and nations. Frodo battles to overcome incredible odds on his trek to Mt. Doom with Sam while Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli marshal forces of light to meet the enemy head on time and time again until the battle at the black gate where they must risk it all.

Tolkien’s metaphor shows us there are times to stand and times to surrender and how difficult surrender can be when we see Frodo stand at the edge on Mt. Doom and refuses to surrender the ring to the molten flames. He had taken a hard path and yet he could not see and was not shown that the celebration for his uncle was nothing compared to the celebration that would occur at the end of the story when the king returned.

In this hour when the economies of the world begin to crumble, threats of war and famine fill the headlines and all manner of opposition to life as we have revered it and known it are being threatened, we need to remember there is no other way. The story we read in the Bible has told us that before we would come to the grand celebration it would be this way. It is ours to remember what our part in the story is to be and that sometimes the most powerful thing we are called to do is to discern when we stand and when we surrender to the path God would have us take.

“Surrender…is the key that unlocks the vault of God’s best and deepest treasures.”

Chuck Swindoll

Hannah Wagner’s life with her husband, John, had been full and rich with their three children and his successful medical practice in Brooklyn, New York, after John had returned from the hard years as a surgeon during the Civil War. But when the children became ill and died from diphtheria and God did not hear her prayers to save them and John’s medical skills could not do so, something in Hannah died also and she could not overcome the grief she felt nor her disappointment in God.

Then in 1873 John suddenly came home from seeing patients full of excitement he hoped could revive her heart and give them a fresh start.

John had met someone named Henry Abernathy during the war and while he was in New York he had looked up John to invite him to join him in Michigan where he had started a thriving lumber business in the wide expanses of white pine forests there. No doctors lived in the sawmill town and Henry knew they needed one and he wanted John to come there to be the town physician. This idea had given John the hope this could give him and Hannah a fresh perspective and start and he knew Henry could be very persuasive. He arrived home to share the news with Hannah and tell her Henry and his new young wife, Kate, would be arriving soon to share the vision with her as well.

Despite the weight of grief, Hannah could not imagine moving west of Chicago to the small Michigan town leaving behind the house where they had lived with their children and near their graves she visited often. Her initial impression of Henry Abernathy was that he was powerful and brash. His very young wife, Kate, was beautiful, voluptuous and looked young enough to be his daughter. He had clearly charmed her and she wanted Hannah to move to Michigan as well so she could have a friend despite Hannah’s perspective that it would be unlikely since their values and personalities were starkly different.

This is how the newest novel of Lynn Austin, The Lumber Baron’s Wife, opens.  Lynn Austin’s skill as a writer of historical fiction invites the reader into this story as Henry Abernathy succeeds in persuading John and Hannah to move to Michigan despite Hannah’s resistance.

The journey is difficult, the last stretch across Lake Michigan terrifying and the house Henry promised to build for them is not ready when they arrive. This forces them to live with Henry and Kate in their mansion for weeks waiting for their own home to be built. The luxury, servants, and lifestyle of the Abernathy’s make Hannah even more uncomfortable about the move.

Henry’s vision keeps growing and he is soon one of the millionaire lumber barons in the area while his young wife is bored and unprepared to fill the role of a society woman and hostess Her husband hopes Hannah will somehow tutor her in those skills. His pressure succeeds after Hannah and John move into their own lovely home and Kate begins visiting to get tips on how to handle her new role. She finds what Hannah outlines boring and misses her life of singing and dancing in New York. As they continue to meet, little by little Kate begins to confide in Hannah more about herself, her past life before Henry wooed her. Hannah finds the stories shocking beyond Kate’s drinking habits that she has observed on more than one occasion.

Lynn Austin weaves a tale that unfolds and keeps the reader guessing what will happen next. She also introduces you to Ashley and David Gilbert living in Philadelphia in the present day. This young couple have finished graduate degrees and David has accepted a “dream job” in Michigan as a conservationist. Ashley had been working part-time at a museum in the hope of moving up into directorship there when the move interrupts her own “dream job.”

They move to the town where Henry and Kate Abernathy had reigned in the late 1800’s. Hannah and John had settled there as well in a lovely home Henry built for them. Now Ashley needs to help find a home and look for a job in a town that doesn’t even have a museum. In her search for housing she learns bits and pieces of the story of the millionaire lumber barons who had lived there and the doctor and his wife who had cared for the lumbermen and families of town. She also learns about the mystery of the disappearance of Kate Abernathy and the mansion she lived in with Henry that now sits empty.

The Lumber Baron’s Wife reveals the hearts and longings of each character and the rocky lives they live. Lynn Austin’s skill shows how the lives of all three couples begin to intersect when Ashley starts to research the history of the town, Kate’s sudden disappearance, and the home of the John and Hannah.

To find out the plot and how each character develops, you won’t want to miss picking up this great read that will keep you in suspense until the last few chapters. I couldn’t put it down.

Have you ever noticed how ambivalent we can be even if we are passionate and have strong opinions or beliefs about so many things? There seems to be an inner restlessness within us that has been growing in recent months and years. Maybe it’s because we thought we had life figured out on some level and were moving along a path we felt pretty certain about and then discovered life was far more unpredictable than we expected it to be.

We knew people who lost a job or had an unexpected diagnosis. We knew there were wars and famines in various places around the world as well as all manner of natural disasters that tore lives, homes, and the earth apart with a destructive force that could not be tamed. We knew there had been economic upheavals and catastrophes in the world in the past and heard grandparents or great grandparents talk about such times. Mentally we knew any of these were possible, but we largely went about our routines feeling safe and staying busy.

We said we liked to get away from our crazy schedules and all the demands on our time and then if we did, we filled it up with the noise of the computers, smartphones, and other devices we brought along with us. Sounds upside down, doesn’t it?

Is it possible we were so busy doing “our” thing that we didn’t stop long enough to see where we are in the story of our lives or recognize it is connected to an even larger story? Perhaps all this time while we were busy doing the next thing and filling up our calendars we forgot to pause and consider more than next month’s calendar.

We had the locked down malaise of the pandemic, but how did we use those days, weeks, and months alone? Often the hours were spent in anxiety and fear as the news kept us living with continuous uncertainty and our usual support systems weren’t available.

“An inner restlessness grows within us when we refuse to get alone and examine our own hearts, including our motives.”

Chuck Swindoll

Swindoll’s words get at the challenge we don’t talk about out loud. There is something about being alone and examining our hearts that can terrify us and perhaps that is why solitary confinement in a prison setting is so difficult.

“We can change. People say we can’t, but we do when the stakes or the pain is high enough. And when we do, life can change. It offers more of itself when we agree to give up our busyness.”

Anne Lamott

One value of giving up busyness and getting alone to examine our hearts is the discovery of where we are in the larger story and what is influencing us moment by moment and especially what is influencing our spiritual lives. Are we living based on truth or has the world crept in when we weren’t paying attention? Have we forgotten that the Bible has told us time and again that life on the earth would become more and more like we see it now?

Storm clouds are getting darker on the horizon, but if we focus on them without the truth of where this story is taking us, we can get lost and lose hope instead of anticipating what we have been told.

“As our lives begin to pick up debris that accompanies a lot of activities and involvements, we can train ourselves to go right on, to stay active, to be busy in the Lord’s work. Unless we discipline ourselves to pull back, to get alone for the hard work of self-examination in times of solitude, serenity will remain only a distant dream. How busy we can become…and, as a result, how empty! We mouth words, but they mean nothing. We find ourselves trafficking in unlived truths. We fake spirituality.”

Chuck Swindoll

Yes, there have been difficult times before, but if we are awake difficulties of all kinds are coming faster and lasting longer than at any time in history. When the disciples of Christ were walking with Him, we saw that over and over again He called them aside to rest and take in the truth and hope of what God could give. I think He would have us not forget to take such time now in ways that we may not have done when we were isolated during the height of the pandemic when it first began. If we would do that, I think we would find an oasis amid the restlessness that would restore our soul.

It’s time to be sober-minded while overflowing with hope and grounded in assurance Christ wants to give us if we will only pull aside and listen.

“How easy to fall prey to meaningless talk, cliche’ ridden responses, and mindless activities! It was never meant to be that way, but, more often than not, that’s the way it is. To break the habit solitude is required. The hard work of self-examination on a recurring basis is absolutely essential.”

Chuck Swindoll

It’s time to be awake, aware, and alert. This is not the time for ambivalence. Solitude can push back the lies the enemy of our souls would have us believe and help strike a dagger into the devices he uses too effectively to create fear. You see the signs of the times and so does the enemy. He’s desperate, but if we are in Christ we need not be.