Memorials

I met a friend in Neillsville today. I got there early, and decided to stop in at The Highground. For those of you not from Wisconsin, The Highground started out as a memorial to the Vietnam veterans, and has grown to a memorial for those who served this country in several wars. There were some new memorials erected since I’d been there last, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to see them.

As I walked around looking at the monuments and reading the stories that went with them, I recalled how moved I was when I went to Washington D.C. and saw some of our biggest monuments. I remembered realizing why God had told the Children of Israel so many times to build monuments. They help us remember important things.

As a Christian today, I ask where are our memorials? We surround ourselves with things that remind us of what we think are important things in this world yet maintain no spiritual memorials. As we try to balance the importance of physical symbols of our faith from idols of worship, we’ve lost our memorials of important people and events of our faith. Gone with the memorials are our memories, and they’ve been replaced with worldly ones.