No Greater Love

This Memorial Day we decided to hike a nearby trail that leads to a flag on top of a mountain overlooking the ocean.  It is a beautiful, challenging hike and it seemed fitting for the day.  Being a military family, we have a very personal reason for teaching our children about those who pay the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.  We try to instill in them the meaning behind honor, courage and commitment.  We teach them John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends."  We teach them to thank the heroes who lay there lives down so that we can live freely in our country. 
A short time ago our family had the opportunity to get to know 39 other families from all over the world.  Each was a military family in their own country;  each were here in the U.S. as students for a year.  What an incredible opportunity it was for us to experience their cultures, their dress, their food, and in some instances their religions.  During that time we became quite good friends with a family from Sri Lanka.  After several months of spending time together, my new Sri Lankan friend did not mince words as she told me just how spoiled I was as an American woman.  While at first I was slightly put off, I have to say that I couldn't disagree with her.  In our country we are incredibly blessed and have so many freedoms that people in other countries only dream of.  If we as Americans truly understood how difficult life is for others in some parts of the world, if we could wrap our heads around what our lives would be like without fresh air, without clean water, and without the ability to make choices for ourselves, we would have a whole different perspective on thankfulness.  My Sri Lankan friend has seen war fought in her country, her children aren't able to play outside due to fear, filth and overcrowding;  she doesn't complain, but she looked at me and saw a woman who takes for granted that which God has blessed me with so abundantly and she called me on it.  I learned a great deal from our time spent with these families;  most of all my eyes were opened to all of the freedoms and richness that I so often don't give thanks for.  We have freedom of choice, freedom of religion, freedom to run and play, to drink what want, eat what we want, and to love how we want.  God has blessed us with His beauty from 'sea to shining sea' and He has graciously allowed us a life of plenty.  Our nation was founded on God, and because our founding fathers trusted in God, our government was set into motion based on biblical principles.  I believe for that reason, God has blessed us greatly, but oh how we have come to take His blessing  for granted. 
Jesus laid down his life so that who ever believes in Him shall be saved.  I love Ephesians 2:9-10, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Every day there are American men and women, dads and moms, brothers and sisters, deployed all over the world choosing to lay down there lives, if necessary, so that I can sit here at my computer and write about my faith, freely.  Most don't know me or my family, most don't know you, but all believe in something greater than themselves and all are committed to defending that which God has blessed us with.  What a incredible job God has given these defenders, these heroes.  I hope we don't ever take them for granted and I hope each day we can thank God for their example of love.  I hope we can also thank God for blessing our country immensely and for the free gift He offers us for just believing in His ultimate fulfillment of love...there is none greater.