The purpose for Memorial Day is unperceivable to some …

Most of us really can’t imagine living like the Vanderbilts, but a lot people like to try!

Today in the Word reported a story in the 90’s that gives an idea of what a Vanderbilt might consider to be “sacrifice” …

At lunch one day in a hotel with her son Reggie and his new wife, Gloria, Alice Vanderbilt asked whether Gloria had received her pearls. Reggie replied that he had not yet bought any because the only pearls worthy of his bride were beyond his price. His mother then calmly ordered that a pair of scissors be brought to her. When the scissors arrived, Mrs. Vanderbilt promptly cut off about one-third of her own $70,000 pearl necklace and handed them to her new daughter-in-law.

“There you are, Gloria,” she said. “All Vanderbilt women have pearls.”

To a Vanderbilt, life without pearls would be too great a sacrifice to pay!

Sound ridiculous?

It’s not any more ridiculous than some of the things many more of us would think of as a “sacrifice” — things like not having internet access, or not having a cell phone, or not having a television.

Too harsh a sacrifice … so we think.

It’s that kind of thinking that really makes the purpose of Memorial Day imperceptible to many. It’s almost unimaginable to understand someone who not only chooses a life of sacrifice (like the men and women who serve in the United States military), but who are willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice of giving their lives to protect and defend their fellow citizens.

But that’s the level — the highest level — of sacrifice that we remember our fallen heroes for on Memorial Day.

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” John 15:13.

Don’t let this long weekend pass without giving sober remembrance of the true sacrifice so many have made on our behalf. You might want to use that time to measure what you really consider to be sacrifice, and ask yourself what kind of sacrifice are you willing to make for others.

Scotty