Today we commemorate the 81st anniversary of the D-Day invasion that ensured the end of the Nazi horrors that beset Europe, and indeed the world. It was June 6th, 1944, and that day is seared into the memory of so many.
On June 6th, 1944, most of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who were in the invasion were just hoping to make it through to see June 7th ,1944. It was an intense and bloody day. Very few of those who were involved in that invasion are still here to celebrate the 80th anniversary. For those who are, and to the families of those valiant soldiers, we thank you for your courage and service.
As Lincoln stated in his Gettysburg Address,
“But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion…
It is my sincere hope that we can continue to celebrate the freedoms secured for us through the sacrifice of these soldiers. We stand at a very difficult time in America- a time when we seem so cavalier and insensitive in our political power struggles, that we lose sight of the noble and precious rights and freedoms we enjoy.
So, pause today, and pray a prayer of thanks for the things we enjoy as a free people, but also pray for the courage to lay aside petty political posturing, and to rededicate ourselves to the principles that unite us and serve as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world.
Reflections of a Counselor 