A Minute to Remember

About 30 years ago I worked as a waitress in a little muffin restaurant in Vancouver, BC. It was like Tim Horton's. People bought their food at the counter and took their trays to a table.
We had a radio station playing in the background and I was wiping off dirty tables when it turned to 11:00 am. The DJ on the radio reminded us it was 11:00 am and that we should take 60 seconds of silence to commemorate the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who went to war so we could be free. AND all those who died and never came back.

So I thought what I always do at that time every November 11. With all the massive sacrifices made by so many, I think I can spare 60 seconds. But my main problem was I was so incredibly shy and afraid of people at the time and it meant stopping where I stood and maybe I'd be noticed by everyone in the restaurant.

But I did it anyway but first just stepped over near a wall so that I wouldn't be right in the center of everything. As I bowed my head and closed my eyes I heard someone yell out, "Hey Lady. Can you grab me another cup of coffee?"
I knew he was talking to me even with my eyes closed. But I made the decision to wait out the 60 seconds before I opened my eyes and responded to him. It wasn't part of my job because he was supposed to go to the counter so he could pay at the til. But I often did things like getting someone something if I had the time. But I would do it after I was finished my 'remembering.'

But when I didn't immediately respond to him, he repeated himself. Then repeated himself again getting louder. Then getting angry and yelling things like, "What's your problem?!" "What are you deaf or something?"
I don't think I could have been more the center of attention than I had become.

Finally that 60 second eternity was over and the lady on the radio said so and they started playing music again. I opened my eyes and said to the man, "You're supposed to go to the counter for a refill so you can pay, but I don't mind doing it for you. It will be 30 cents though." (The good old days when you could get a coffee refill for 30 cents!)

When I returned to the table with his coffee my red face having blushed at having everyone looking at me was just fading. He said things like it was "stupid" to still be remembering all these years later and it was just the Government promoting war and a total waste of time. Even though it was just a minute.

I responded by asking him, "Do you think you'd still believe that if you had been fighting in a war. Or if you were alone in a nursing home thinking that nobody cares or even remembers what you did? How scared you were and how horrible beyond words it was watching everyone you knew dying all around you?

I know I'll never understand what being in a war is like but I know I can spare 60 seconds once a year to try to imagine it. And so, I do."


The man made no response but gave a slight nod of his head and thanked me for getting him coffee. I hadn't been speaking much more than a whisper but I realized everyone had been listening to me because the people who had been chatting during the minute of silence had been completely silent as I spoke to the man.
I couldn't have drawn  more attention to myself if I had tried. But it did something strange. Because it was an odd occurrence and an emotional one too, it created a deep memory in me that jumps to the front of my brain every November 11. So the action of remembering,  that could have faded away throughout the years is still there and fresh even all these years later. And I've learned so many other things added to it as time has passed.

Did you ever wonder why Jesus asked us to do communion with the bread and wine? I think He was doing more than that. Bread and wine was the main food of everyone's supper. I think He wanted us to remember his sacrifice on the cross not just once a month or once a week but every day. When we sit down to have supper to take a minute to remember that God supplied our food and God supplied our Saviour. And at a massive cost to Himself and because of how greatly He loves us. Every day to remember our sins can be forgiven all because God thinks we are worth it.

A minute to remember is a very good thing. It can heal a hurt and make us have value for others and ultimate!y ourselves. You are loved and you matter. God believes that so deeply that He gave up His Son to die just to prove it to you.

And I agree with Him. You do matter.

Thank you for stopping by.

Love Laura-Lee

John 3:16 New International Version (NIV)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 15:13 King James Version (KJV)

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Below is a picture of Jesus in Gethsemane. And a Bible verse of how frightened Jesus was as he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion. Remember. We have a Saviour who understands us. He's been afraid too. And He had to die too. But He rose from the dead and because of that there is hope for all of us.

"And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." Luke 22:44