CLEOEJACKSONIII.COM
  • My Home Page
  • My Life and Ministry
  • My Ongoing Thoughts
  • My Favorite Bible Verses
  • My Favorite Stories
  • My Favorite Jokes
  • My Favorite Quotations
  • My Favorite Web Links
  • My Contact Info
"Helping Others Communicate"

EXTERIOR DECORATING

5/30/2016

 
Dr. Michael Milton is the Founder and President of Faith for Living, Inc., which he describes as “an outreach ministry advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people possible through every means available so that there will be a multitude of souls safe in the arms of Jesus when He comes again.”

This gifted man has served as a long time Pastor (of First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee, among others) Educator (having taught at Reformed Theological Seminary, Knox Theological Seminary, and Erskine Theological Seminary respectively), Broadcaster (having followed D. James Kennedy on the broadcast Truth that Transforms), and Recording Artist (having released five separate Christian music albums).

As if all of this activity were not enough, he has also somehow found time to write.  In addition to having authored and published twenty full-length books, he also posts thought-provoking blogs on his web-site.  Last year, on Memorial Day, 2015, he posted a wonderful piece titled “I Remember Decoration Day”.  Having had numerous similar experiences, I was particularly moved by this blog post.  I wanted to share it here in hopes that you might be as well.

When the Peonies bloomed like giant red and white carnations, and I was allowed to go barefoot for the first time in the almost-summer time, and the old World War I American Legion vets put their local post caps on when they went to the hardware store, I knew it was a special day called Decoration Day. It usually is called Memorial Day today. Yet since its origin, many have called it Decoration Day. The reason? Quite simple: It was a day to remember those who had fallen in our nation's wars, going all the way back to the broken-hearted years following the American Civil War, by decorating their graves.

I am sure my days in rural, agrarian Louisiana were not that different from the days of a boy in rural, agrarian Indiana or rural California. It was just the way things were in America in those days. On Decoration Day, we all would go decorate the graves of those uncles, grandfathers, fathers, cousins and neighbors who had died during the conflict of World War I or World War II or Korea.

So, we would go out to the Palmetto Cemetery in Walker, which used to be called Milton Oldfield, and decorate those graves. Or we would go to the National Cemetery in Baton Rouge (which would've been pretty much an all-day affair, plus having to catch a ride, so we only went there every other year or so) where my uncle Woodrow's body lay. Uncle Woodrow Milton was killed while serving in the Navy during World War II. I always will remember my Aunt Eva and her sister, my Aunt Georgia, talking about the day they stood there in 1942 at the exact spot where we would be standing on Decoration Day.

"I can still see poor Mama sobbing," Aunt Georgia would whisper to herself as her memories caused her to lift her shiny black purse up, snap it open, and pull out an embroidered handkerchief. She would dab her eyes. Aunt Eva wouldn't talk. She just looked down at the gravestone of her little brother. I looked at them. Then they would begin decorating. In some ways in my mind, I am still standing there, not saying a word lest I desecrate the moment.

We always would go to the grave of my father. My father did not die directly as a result of a war, but he served in World War II. Jessie Ellis Milton, a graduate of the New London Officer's Academy, commanded a Merchant Marine ship that carried troops during the war. His war was fought in the frigid and dangerous waters of the North Atlantic where German U-boats went in deadly schools under the white-capped waves by Greenland and on into his destination of Liverpool. The seagoing services were his life.

My father died of complications from alcoholism, which were part of the complications of his soul, which were part of the complications of the seagoing life, which were part of the complications of the war. He received the same decorating as his brother and my other Uncle (who had served in WWI) and all the others. Whether they died in the service or after, it didn’t matter. They had served. So, we decorated my father's grave.


It occurs to me that someone might read this and wonder what it means to decorate a grave. It does sound anachronistic, and I suppose it is. There is much good work by the Boy Scouts of America in particular today as they decorate the graves of veterans all over America. My son, who is now an Eagle Scout, spent many Memorial Day mornings in his scouting years decorating graves of veterans. I always will recall with great pride the sight of  our Chattanooga Scouts placing miniature American flags on the acres of graves at the National Cemetery in that beautiful community where I was pastor. So I pay tribute to those who still remember Memorial Day in that way.

However, the Decoration Days I remember were more of a family occasion, a solemn and moving day when few words were spoken. There were certain ways to decorate a grave. To decorate a grave, one would not only plant a miniature U.S. flag, but in those days, it particularly meant the women would clean the gravestone and place fresh flowers in either a vase or at the foot of the headstone. We would bring a hoe and remove any weeds that had grown up around the grave.


When I hear the story of the women going to prepare the body of Jesus after He had been placed in the borrowed tomb, I always think about the women in my life as I was growing up who decorated the graves. There was nobility in that act. There was a sort of holiness in it. A man would not do that. It was not because men were too good, but because there was a feminine sympathy and compassion which was understood to be more intuitively proper for such a holy task. War was men's work. That was their honor and their duty. Caring for the dead and the children and grandchildren of those men would be the work of the women. That was their honor and their duty. No one said that. It just was so. Tending their graves was a sacred role the women did not even think to share with the men.

I remember being a boy and seeing a female cousin about my age, probably about 12 at the time, when she decided it was her time to join the grown women. I just watched and felt that my female cousin was becoming a woman. She got on her knees and began to remove weeds from my father's grave. No one said a thing. No one, none of the women at least, so much as paused to watch. It just happened. That's just the way things were. The men would watch and often would hold a vase or fetch the hoe from the trunk of the car as the wife gave the command. Yet this was their work, and noble work it was.


So when I hear Memorial Day, I think Decoration Day; my mind goes back to those far-away places and those solemn occasions that stirred me every bit as much as the president of the United States placing a wreath at Arlington. The memory snuck up on me today and stirs me again. It is Decoration Day and I am still following this calling in ministry. I am a long way from my father's grave. My aunts are in heaven. So, I don't think the women in my family would mind if I at least decorate their graves, the warriors and their women, with holy memory and a grateful heart.
 
SOURCE: 
http://michaelmilton.org/2015/05/24/decoration-day/#comments.

YOU CAN READ MOTE ABOUT DR. MILTON AND HIS MULTI-FACETED MINISTRY HERE: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_A._Milton.

Comments are closed.

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All