LOYAL:to what?

 We are loyal to things we remember--people, places, events, ideas--things we value and don't want to lose.  As I write this, memories are coming up, with the Memorial Day holiday next week.  We are hearing and reading of ways people have observed this day;  I happened to read a story of "selling" crepe-paper poppies on the street to passers-by, to be worn in a lapel or pinned on a shirt or jacket  in memory of both those who lost their lives in wartime, and those who had served in wartime. (They were made by veterans organizations on or around Memorial Day and Veteran's Day.)  When I was in high school, a students' service organization I was involved with would be asked to participate, and there was recognition of those who did well for the cause. I don't recall there being a specific price; we accepted whatever people offered. The history of the "poppy" was that there were small red poppies that grew in fields in Belgium and France where there had been great loss of life, including American and allied soldiers, from World War I, and the wildflowers that came back after the battles are the subject of a famous poem.  Most people were happy to wear a poppy, and I remember smiling until my face hurt.  The Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion have installed a Poppy Memorial exhibit on the National Mall in Washington for this weekend with 645,000 flowers, one for each war casualty since World War I.

Memorial Day is a good reminder of how experiences and people in our past can strengthen our commitment to our families, communities, countries and other memories; and also negative experiences can break down loyalties, some of which are in need of revision, and may change as we live and grow.  Change is a part of life; and we are reminded that we are in this world temporarily. Memorial services remind me that life is limited; it's not a question of "if" but of how and when. We sometimes act as if we're going to be here forever.  We are told that we do have life beyond this life, but we don't know anything other than that we will be held responsible for our relationship with our Creator. I suspect that there are things in our lives that we will need to be willing to give up; that are imcompatible with His Kingdom.

We do live in a world that can be full of fear.  As scary as life can appear to be, we need to remember that our fundamental loyalties are to the things that mean the most to us. We can get hung up on things that are not important in the real world; and we need to learn to recognize what is real.  What is real is what is in our hearts, and those of everybody else in the world.  Hardware looks scary in today's world, but what we have in our hearts and minds control what we do. And we need to learn a lot more about how to deal with what's in minds.  We read that going all the way back to the beginning, Cain killed his brother. We don't know how; that's not the point. He may not have needed anything more than his bare hands.  If there are people out there whose hearts and minds wish us dead, it really doesn't make a difference what they have in their hands.  People have hijacked airplanes with boxcutters. On the other hand, if they mean us no harm, again, it doesn't make a difference what they have in their hands. Where are our loyalties, and what are our fears?