Life in a Northern Town

One of my favorite relaxing activities is reading in the tub (most of my favorite books have warped corners from wet hands!). The other night the book of choice was Readings in American Values, a hand-me-down from my in-laws which turned out to be, on closer examination, a text book from Dad Melin's days at the Church College of Hawaii (now BYU-H). Anyway,I was reading a bunch of Lincoln's letters and speeches and I re-read this passage from the Gettysburg Address:

"...It is for us the living...to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain."

As I read that passage over and over to myself, I realized that most of the things I treasure in my life, most of the causes I live and serve for, were hard-won in bloody battles and martyrdoms. Just about everything that's important to me came to me by the loss of someone else's life.

For example, we have been reading the Book of Mormon as a family in the mornings and realized how many lives were lost either to protect the records (their scriptures) or because they would not deny their testimonies of Christ. Same goes for the Bible--from Moses to Christ and for thousands of years since, lives have been sacrificed so that I can hold those books in my hand and read and worship when ever and where ever I choose.

Not to mention the military battles that have taken place to ensure that freedom, or the pioneers who trekked west to experience that freedom for themselves.

The list goes on and on. So I decided that the above passage will now be my November theme--it's perfect for Veterans' Day and Thanksgiving. I might even be an uber-geek and memorize it.

So that's my Thanksgiving message to all yall. Our lives and lifestyles are a product of thousands, maybe millions, of sacrifices. What are we doing to "resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain?"

Happy Thanksgiving! We are off to Pocatello this afternoon, where we will meet up with my brother Willy and his family at my Dad Layton's house. We will eat and dry wall his basement ceiling and the cousins will have a BLAST. The good news is that Will's family is coming up here to Montana for three days, and Rich's brother Jess will be here, too, so COUSIN FEST! Addie will be in hog heaven! Eat, drink, and be merry, folks, then get back to work! ;)