With Remembrance Day upon us, this mantra “Lest We Forget” is all over the media. And I have pondered its meaning and relevance over the past few days. Earlier in the year, I was compelled to get close and personal with Canadian history and I learned so much about the sacrifices made  (and still being made) by many brave men and women of this country to keep our True North strong and free. This is the legacy of freedom I enjoy today and every day in this wonderful and blessed country.

This week I watched a video about a nurse theorist, Helen Peplau and in the video, she made a comment that got me thinking. She said: “In 1943, the war came and I felt I ought to serve my country”. This sense of duty; of obligation; to live or die for country; to ensure the freedom of others, is admirable and I commend the men and women that have answered this call worldwide.

As I pondered over this, my mind was drawn to one man who also made this ultimate sacrifice to ensure the freedom of all mankind and to make us citizens of heaven: Jesus Christ. In church last week, there was a song that was sung that really brought this home for me:

O what love
No greater love
Grace, how can it be
That in my sin
Yes, even then
He shed His blood for me
O the blood of Jesus washes me
O the blood of Jesus shed for me
What a sacrifice that saved my life
Yes, the blood, it is my victory

When Jesus died for me it was not out of a sense of duty, not as an obligation. It was because of his unconditional love for me. He chose to shed his blood for my freedom and not only mine but for my kids’ freedom and my grandkids’ and basically my entire lineage (Romans 3:23-25). And unfortunately, sometimes I forget and take for granted this sacrifice.

So today as I wear my poppy, I do so with pride; Pride in the troops and veterans all over the world but more so in true remembrance of the ULTIMATE sacrifice: the death of Jesus Christ that made me truly free.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.

So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies, at last, I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown

Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me someday to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.