For me, it was not the calendar that turned over to remind me of what happened some years ago on Sept 11th. It was not the posting of updated social media pages nor the news reports from varying stations. It was reading a fictional novel that started out with an attack of terror on American soil.
I felt inside of me such sadness, that I have still not been able to go behind the first chapter.
This was no fiction. This was not another who done it novel that I could pretend for the hours it took to read that I was the agent or detective working the case - solving the mystery and getting the back guys. I was only too able to recall scenes from this day of lives lost over a cause I still am unclear about. I am able to still see bodies plunging from buildings to escape a fiery grave that threatened them. I am only too aware of the explosions from planes crashing into buildings.
I threw that book aside and wept. I wept as you might have, for all those people that are still remembering those loved ones. I wept for those where years have not faded the pain. I wept for a nation that has never quite recovered and every day live and breathe the stench of 9/11. I wept for all of us who have not forgotten and never will for as long as God gives us breath.
Today, as the calendar has finally caught up to my thoughts, I am remembering with a soberness that life is fragile. Loss is guaranteed to come to all of us. I remember also the God I love and serve and who is able to COMFORT all us in our sorrow. He heals the wounded hearts that are still bruised and battered from what is now our "history".
Can you pray with me for all of us today?
Father, please wrap us up in your comforting arms and bring comfort to us as we once again mourn the loss of loved ones, our freedom, our yesterdays that can never be returned. Father bring to our nation a reason to celebrate life and infuse us with Joy Peace and Hope that comes from you only. Father, we need you. Everyday, every hour, every second we need you desperately. Father in the midst of this, we remember those that are still committed to serving in the defense of a nation they love. Keep them safe Lord and I pray a swift reunion with loved ones. Keep them in soundness of mind I pray and hide them from the enemy's eyes and hands. Lord thank God for North America. Bless this land in Jesus Name, Amen.
Yesterday afternoon I looked at my electronic calendar and the date Sept 11 jarred my memory; it was the eighteenth anniversary of 911 and I didn't remember. I felt a little embarrassed but immediately the images of that day flooded my memory; those brave soles who faced smoke and crumbling towers to save others; the desperate people who jumped from multi-story windows to their deaths. And on and on...
ReplyDeleteI am convinced that as the eighteenth year and the thirtieth year pass the date can creep up and many of us who were alive on that fateful day may not connect right away but those images are etched in our brains like a mosaic, forever until death.
So true. I too know that the date may pass on the calendar but will forever remain painted in our memories
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