What Does Never Forget Mean?

Nine years ago, I was gearing up for a normal, busy day at Meadow Gardens, the garden center my husband and I owned. I put on my work gloves (I’d learned my lesson after cutting my hands a zillion times on the edge of pots) as a delivery truck backed up to the greenhouse door. I noticed the normally-jovial driver was quiet as he got out of the truck and walked to the back to open the doors.

“I just heard something odd on the radio,” he said. “A plane hit a tower in NYC. And they don’t know if it was an accident or intentional.”

Thankfully it was only a small order and we soon finished unloading the mums. I ran into the house (our house was 25 steps away from the business) and turned on the TV … in time to see the second tower get hit.

Oh my …

It was unreal watching the news unfold that day … I found myself repeatedly wishing it was all just a movie.

Songs, books, presidents, clergy and more have all promised to  never forget.

And I agree, we should never forget. The lives loss. The lives affected. The injured. The terror.

But in the process of never forgetting … do we need to be unkind? Or unloving? Or do things that incite others?

I don’t see exception clauses in Jesus’ words about loving our enemies and loving our neighbors as ourself.

As I think about never forgetting, I think back on my own journey of learning to love my neighbors, which meant first loving myself. And I realize how much more I have to learn about loving others, whether they be friends or enemies.

Jesus also said that the world will know his followers by their love. So spreading love could honor the lives loss while fulfilling his words and bringing a whole new meaning to never forget.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recently I ‘met’ Sarah Cunningham … I read her newest book, Picking Dandelions: A Search for Eden Among Life’s Weeds and communicated with her online. (And I look forward to meeting her in real life soon)

Picking Dandelions (a spiritual memoir) is a great book over all and especially if you want to read a first-hand account of someone who was at Ground Zero. Sarah spent two weeks at Ground Zero right after the attacks, as a volunteer supporting rescue efforts and she wants 9/11 to be a day of love, instead of hate.

So Sarah and her publisher, Zondervan are spreading some love by giving away free copies of her book in honor of 9/11.

Read Sarah’s thoughts on the day and enter to get a free book on her site.

Plus, Zondervan is GIVING AWAY the full, electronic version of Picking Dandelions. You can download it for FREE at Amazon starting Sept 13th (Monday). Limited time only.

Or you can get the paperback version at an obscenely discounted price here. Enter the discount code ‘980763′.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So today (and everyday) I want to never forget by intentionally spreading love and kindness to friends and enemies alike. I plan to do something practical before the day is over and blog about it next week (hold me accountable, if you haven’t seen a post by Wed, ask me about it)

Where can you spread some love and kindness today as an act of never forgetting?