Do you remember where you were that fateful day, September 11, 2001? I was answering phones at the Deloitte call center where is just minutes we would be flooded with calls from Deloitte family members wondering if their family member was in the building. Deloitte was blessed, as all but one person was able to make it to safety. The feeling of loss permeated the country those few days. People had to find ways back home without using air travel, some had to wait weeks to get back home. In fact, we still have things in place due to the attacks on that day. Yet, for many it is easy to forget what happened on that day and why we live the way we do today because of it.
This year, many churches, synagogues, temples and even governments will have a day of remembrance on this 10th anniversary of that dread day. Yet, I wonder how many of us will also look for the silver lining of those smoke clouds? I wonder how many times we live in lives where we do not honor where we have been or recall where we could have been had grace and mercy not intervened?
The chorus of an old song by Dottie Rambo touches on exactly where we need to be during this year of remembrance: “Roll back the curtain of memories now and then. Show me where you brought me from, Oh, and where I could have been. Remember I’m human, and humans forget, so remind me, remind me dear Lord.”
We can look back and see that the tragedies in life cause huge changes in our lives. Yet, do we always have to see them as negative? We have a tendency to see life in the dreams of what would have happened if this thing had not happened, what ever that thing would be. Yet, we do not know what would have happened – it is a fantasy and not living in the world as we have it means that life is less than the possibilities that can be in our current world – because the other one never will.
We need the curtains of memory rolled back so we see the past for what it was and not what we think it was. It is never as good or bad as we think it to be on first glance. We often hurt for things that would have hurt us more had they happened. We forget the grace and mercy we received and do not share that same with those around us. Tragedies are horrible, but they often do remind us what is really important.
September 11, 2001 brought great loss to our country, but greatness is often born in great loss. This September 11 attend worship somewhere, anywhere, and let the curtains of memory be rolled back so that you can have a newfound appreciation of what grace and mercy you have received.
