How Soon We Forget

A week ago Kayla Mueller was all over every broadcast and cable television news program, internet news site, and periodical. This week, there’s barely a mention of her. In another month, most Americans will have forgotten her name.

Kayla was a delightful young woman who devoted her life to helping people in vulnerable circumstances. She started in middle school and never let up. She gave her life working on behalf of hurting people, ranging from homeless women in America to refugees in Israel and India. She knew the risks she was taking by traveling to dangerous parts of the world but believed it was her calling to make a difference. Kayla is a hero and role model. 

Why have we so quickly forgotten?

For starters, we don’t know what to do. We know that ISIS is a major problem in the mideast and Islamic terrorism is a world-wide threat, but we do not know what to do about it. So it’s easier to change our focus on things that we can do something about. And we have no answers. Thinking about Kayla and the good she was attempting to do, yet suffering for it, makes no sense. Why would the very people she was giving her life to help turn on her? And, we have our own problems. Sure, the argument you had with your wife or the struggle you kid is having in school doesn’t really compare the loss of life in Syria and Iraq, or the martyrdom of thousands of Christians in Islamist countries. Still, you have your own issues to deal with. And we are responsible for our stuff.

So…the memory of Kayla’s senseless kidnapping and death, like so many others, fade.

But let’s not forget.

Let’s learn some things from Kayla’s life.

First, that living to serve others is a life well lived. Jesus taught his followers that any time we serve those who are forgotten and downtrodden, we are serving him.

But it’s also important to remember that doing good is not a guarantee that good things will happen to us. Kayla died doing good things for others. It’s not always true that what goes around comes around…in this life. Instead, the Apostle Paul taught us that this life’s reward is found in the next. Jesus assured his followers that in this world we will experience trouble. Paul promised that the reward for doing good will come (Galatians 6:9). But again, that is in the next life.

The truth is, all of us will come to the end of our lives and for some it will be in their youth. But for all of us, it will come sooner than we expect. We can either die serving others or living selfishly. More people die in their youth because of selfish living than sacrificial living. But either way, we will die. The question is…how will we die? Will it be in service for others, or will it be in service for self?

Let’s not forget Kayla’s zeal for helping the downtrodden and passion for serving. And while her death was senseless and sad, let’s use her example as an inspiration for our lives and seek to make our own sacrifices in order to serve.