The Battlefield

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit a Civil War Battlefield. Antietam, the deadliest one day battle in American military history.

You can see the beautiful and serene countryside all around you. And it is quiet, except for the birds singing their springtime songs.

If you close your eyes, you can almost hear the sound of gunshots, cannon fire, and the cries and moans of injured men. You can almost see the women making their way through the heat and smoke, tending to the wounded.

When I visit a place like this, I can feel the history and emotion. And I always wonder how people could disagree so much that they get to this point.

It is said that a Union and a Confederate soldier once shared a smoke on the battlefield, had a conversation, and figured that they could solve the war in 30 minutes if it were up to them. They listened to each other.

Couldn’t we do that? Couldn’t we stop and put away our view, our anger, our way for a few minutes and JUST LISTEN TO EACH OTHER? We might find that we agree on much more than we think. We could go so far…

I couldn’t help but notice that these fields that once held 23,000 dead men in 1862 are now covered in daffodils. Daffodils mean “new beginnings “. I felt that yesterday. I feel it today. The people in the post Civil War time desperately wanted a new beginning for our country. I think many of us want a new beginning now.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could come together as people and make a new beginning? For our community? For our churches? For our friendships? For ourselves?

Each of us can do our part to make a new beginning, no matter where we are in our journey. Maybe that new beginning is moving toward forgiveness. Maybe it’s finding a new church. Maybe it just being as kind and loving as we possibly can to others, because we never want anyone to feel the pain and hurt that we have.

“Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.” -Abraham Lincoln