| Jul. 4th, 2010 @ 01:17 pm Independence Day |
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Today is the birthday of our nation. Today we celebrate our freedom. Today we BBQ and watch fireworks and enjoy our family and friends. But today, let us also pause to thank God for our nation and the freedoms that we enjoy in it - freedoms that were bought at great price, and that we too often take for granted.
Our nation is not perfect. Never was. Never will be. We were not founded by perfect people, nor are we now governed by perfect people. In all honestly, America is a very indulgent and arrogant nation. Like no individual is free from sin or error, neither is any nation. But never-the-less, we are and have been a blessed nation. In all of our imperfections, we have prospered and stood strong. We enjoy freedoms in this nation that we don't even realize are freedoms because we are so used to them that we take them for granted. We whine and complain when the line at the grocery store is too long, instead of being thankful for not only the abundance of food but also for having a job that affords us the ability to purchase it to feed our families. We get impatient waiting on our book to arrive that we ordered on Amazon, never stopping to think about the fact that our ability to buy any book we want on Amazon is in and of itself one of our freedoms. There are nations where many books and teachings are expressly banned. We yawn and watch the clock when our Sunday sermon goes too long, or make snide remarks about other denominations, when the fact that we can spend all day in church if we want to, and that we have the freedom to attend a church that aligns with our beliefs and where we feel comfortable is one of our greatest freedoms. We are bothered by the opinions shared publicly by religious leaders or politicians that we don't agree with, but the very fact that we are able to voice our opinions openly without fear of arrest is a freedom that was bought for us. At great price.
As a Christian, I see a lot of things happening in our nation that breaks my heart. Both politically and morally. But on the political side, I live in a country where I am free to vote and take part in the political process. And on the morality side, I have to always remember that we cannot ever legislate morality. But we can strive to live it in our own lives, and serve our nation in prayer - for God's word says in 2 Chron. 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will heal their land."
No, our nation is not perfect. But it is nevertheless blessed tremendously, and it is my home, and despite our imperfections I am proud to be an American. I am proud of this beautiful land I call my home. I am proud of the men and women of multiple races and religion who shed blood and fought to create this nation. Who fought for freedom to be enjoyed by generations they would never know. I am proud of those who have served in our military forces - those who fought in wars, and those who never did but stood by willing to go should they be called. And I am proud of those who have stood in the shadows, never known and never seen. From planting victory gardens, to women sewing uniforms and bandages to send off to war, to people hiding slaves in their basements and barns to help them find their own freedom.
I am thankful that my great-great-grandparents took their children and got on a boat to come to this country to find freedom - a freedom that was then enjoyed by their baby girl, Eva, my great-grandma, then her little girl, my gramma Virginia, then through my dad, and then to me.
Yes, I am proud to be an American. I pray that as I live in a nation where we are so inundated by freedom that we don't know what freedom really is, that I will never allow myself to take my freedom for granted.
Happy Birthday, America, my home!
(From the Declaration of Independence)
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. ~Abraham Lincoln
A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle; and patriotism is loyalty to that principle. ~George William Curtis
I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.
(Nathan Hale, hung as a spy by the British at the age of twenty one - Sept. 21, 1776)
The highest glory of the American Revolution was this - that it connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. [John Quincy Adams]
And so finally...
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the republic for which it stands
One nation, under God, indivisible
With liberty and justice for all.
Amen |
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