Maybe I am getting old, but I can’t stop worrying about the deployed troops on holidays like this. Many of you reading this blog have been there – deployed and far away from the ones you love – on Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and all the major family holidays. Thoughts inevitably drift across the sea to loved ones back home.
They are stoic, though, and carry on with their duties, sometimes acknowledging the special day and sometimes not.
I need not worry today, however, because there is a whole host of organizations that have dedicated their time and effort to making sure our deployed troops know they are in everyone’s hearts. Schools, churches, and entire communities have rallied to collect and send Valentine’s Day greetings to the men and women serving overseas. Google “Valentines Day and the troops” and you will get a feel for what is happening across the country.
Good for them. Because it is always good for the troops to know they have been remembered.
And particularly on this day, please remember those whose loved ones will never return. The fallen heroes, although they are no longer with us, will live on in the broken hearts of those who continue to love them. My buddy Crissie shared the following verse that seems especially appropriate: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
Amen. All of those who volunteered their time to send greetings to the troops on Valentine’s Day are our heroes of the week.