Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday in 1971, and it is now observed every year on the last Monday of May. The holiday officially commemorates the many people who have given their lives through military service. Many people use this day to remember and honor family members, friends and even pets that have made their transition.

Reflecting on the passing of a loved one may bring about feelings of sadness and loss. However, it also offers an opportunity to be grateful for the joy their life brought to us.

Transitions
Unity teaches that the human form is merely a temporary home for the eternal spirit, which never dies. “Human beings are spiritual beings,” says Rev. John Strickland, senior minister at Atlanta Unity Church. “The body can be lost but not the spirit. We have bodies for a time. Then we release them and move on to our next experience in living.”

In his article “Another Dawn,” former Unity author and poet laureate James Dillet Freeman wrote, “Life does not begin with birth. It does not end with death. Life is an eternal process, an eternal progress. A visible form, an audible voice, an aggregation of organs, a network of ideas—we are more than these. … We are expressions of the spirit of life.”

“God can under no conditions be lost and neither can we as God's offspring. But we can change form,” says Strickland. “When we were born, we changed from the invisible to the visible. When we die, we change back from the visible to the invisible. But the spiritual being, the real self, cannot be lost.”

In his article “For Everything There Is a Season,” author Daniel Rebant writes, “… Although new beginnings are usually preferred over endings, we should remember that every new beginning requires an ending—sometimes even a death.  … The challenges we encounter seem like dark tunnels, yet every tunnel has a light at the end of it. As we grope in the darkness, we can focus on the faint light we see in the distance. This light represents the gift—whatever it is we are to learn, to heal or to change.”

Celebrate and Give Thanks
In 1936, renowned Unity minister Ernest Wilson wrote this about Memorial Day in his essay “Living Memorials”:      

“Memorial Day! What better occasion to remember all unselfish service, all loyalty and devotion to ideals? ... A part of our Memorial Day observance may be dedicated to some act of thoughtful remembrance that would make the day a happier, brighter one to someone who has rendered and is rendering unusual service to the country, or perhaps to our own community. … [Give] a little special help to someone who is carrying on bravely in the face of seeming odds. A note of appreciation to some friend or loved one. A contribution to some living cause. Flowers for a shut-in. Let us say, ‘I dedicate this day to the remembrance of living causes and loved friends, through thoughts, words and deeds of true appreciation.'”

In his book, Mysteries of John, Unity's co-founder Charles Fillmore wrote, “The most effective consolation that we can give to those who are immersed in the grief of separation and loss is to deny for them the human belief in death and affirm in thought, word and citations of scripture the omnipresence of life.”

This Memorial Day as you remember and acknowledge the people you have lost, this beautiful audiovisual version of James Dillet Freeman's poem, The Traveler, may help you find peace, love and gratitude.