HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY

                   

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

                    by Kelly Strong

                    I watched the flag pass by one day.

            It fluttered in the breeze.
            A young Marine saluted it,
            and then he stood at ease.
            I looked at him in uniform
            So young, so tall, so proud,
            He'd stand out in any crowd.
            I thought how many men like him
            Had fallen through the years.
            How many died on foreign soil?
            How many mothers' tears?
            How many pilots' planes shot down?
            How many died at sea?
            How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
            No, freedom isn't free.

            I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
            When everything was still
            I listened to the bugler play
            And felt a sudden chill.
            I wondered just how many times
            That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
            When a flag had draped a coffin
            Of a brother or a friend.
            I thought of all the children,  
            Of the mothers and the wives,
            Of fathers, sons and husbands
            With interrupted lives.
            I thought about a graveyard
            At the bottom of the sea
            Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
                           No, freedom isn't free.

In reading this poem and thinking about this holiday, I am reminded that freedom definitely is not free. I'm reminded of the great price the Son of God paid for our freedom from sin. Memorial Day has a special meaning for me because it was on Memorial Day 1948 that I was baptized. That was definitely one of the best days of my life and one I will never forget even though that was many years ago and I was just 11 years old.  

For links to lots of inspirational posts, please click HERE to go to the Spiritual Sundays blog.