We Should Always Remember the Purpose of Holidays

I can hardly believe we just celebrated another Easter Sunday. A great friend of mine once told me how amazed I’d be as I got older in how quickly time would pass. That a week would seem like a day and a year would go by in the blink of an eye. He was right, for it seems we were just here only a year ago. 

The Easter Holiday marks the beginning of the wind-down of season for us here on the island. Traffic will begin to subside, seats at restaurants will begin to open up and the Gulf waters will begin to warm back up into the eighties before we know it. 

Soon, we’ll be deluged with ads from national and local merchants for Memorial Day and July 4th Sales. Your kids or grandkids will be looking forward to summer vacations and the end of another school year. 

Easter will have marked the beginning of the spring season, when vegetation begins to green, the aroma of flowering plants and trees begins to fill the air and baseball season will have begun and our nation will soon be consumedby our great American pastime.  

Spring marks the rebirth of our planet, but it should also mark the rebirth of our souls. All of us should take the time to celebrate the rebirth of our faith. 

The purest meaning of Easter is the celebration of  Christ’s rising from the dead and his ascension into Heaven. His resurrection serves as the foundation for Christianity. It represents a second chance for humanity and an opportunity for all who believe to follow Him when the time comes to sit with the Father in Heaven. 

The true meaning of many of our holidays unfortunately gets lost in their commercialization and the thought of having an extra day off from the grind of work. This is unfortunately true about so many of the important days we have set aside to remember special events or people. 

Veterans Day, Memorial Day, July 4 and even Christmas have their true meaning lost, especially with the children of our communities. 

It is so important that generations yet to come not lose the significance and meaning of what our holidays are about.  

Memorial Day is not a holiday where we get an extra day off for a picnic or a day at the beach. The same goes for the 4th of July. It is a day for saying thank you to our veterans who gave their lives in protection of our liberties and freedoms, while understanding their sacrifices. Christmas is not about presents but about the birth of hope for humanity in the birth of a child in a manger.  

If we as a nation and a people are to continue in a leadership role within the world community, we must ensure future generations have a strong understanding of the many principles and beliefs that have propelled us to the position we hold today. We must take the time to ensure we do not trivialize that which has truly made us a nation and a people who are looked up to by those seeking a better tomorrow for themselves.  

Our dedication to ensuring the true meaning of our holidays should always be held in great reverence by us all. This last Holy Holiday shouldn’t be about a rabbit or candy eggs. It might be nice for us all to commit a few moments to reflect on the great gift given to us when the Father sacrificed a Son so we all might all have a path to eternal salvation, while living our lives by the standards he preached.  

We should also remember the sacrifices made by those first responders. Firefighters, law enforcement and EMS personnellay down their lives on a daily basis to protect ours on a daily basis. We must never again forget those that wear the uniforms of our military personnel in an effort to maintain the freedoms we sometimes take for granted. 

Let us all never fail to show them the respect we owe them on a daily basis and never fail torecognize those sacrifices.