I am proud to be an American.
Now that I"m a mom, EVERYTHING affects me more deeply than it used to, because it's not about me anymore.
I am so grateful that my son Dallas is going to grow up in the greatest country in the world.
That he will be able to freely learn about God, and worship Him.
That he has freedom of speech.
That the American Dream is still alive, and that with hard work and perseverance he can be anything he wants to be. Although probably not a dancer, if genetics have anything to do with it. :-)
I have started reading an incredible series of books by Bodie Thoene. The first book is called Vienna Prelude, and it's all about Hitler's rise to power, and the fall of Austria. I am ashamed to say that I was not a very good student for most of my life. I LOVED reading and studying as a kid, but as I got older, the taunts of "nerd" and "bookworm" really got to me, and popularity became my goal. That didn't work out so well...another story for another time. :-) Anyway, this book is not just an amazing story, it is PACKED with historical information, and I'm at a point in my life where it's time to educate myself. One of the things that really got me in this book is how, when Hitler was coming to power, so many people just kind of stood on the sidelines, hoping that things would blow over. Or they just didn't want to get involved. And I bet many of these folks were what we would consider "good" people, and didn't realize the poison that was spreading until it was too late.
I'm going to paraphrase a famous quote here: For evil to prosper, the only requirement is that good men do nothing.
Let that sink in.
My prayer today is that all of us would remember the true cost of freedom, and those who decided that "doing nothing" was not and is not an option. That we would remember and thank those who made the ultimate sacrific. That we would pray for our amazing troops. That we would pray for the families that have suffered terrible loss. That we would do what we can to support them. And that we truly understand how amazing our country is, and do what we can in our own lives to protect freedom and stand for what we know is right, no matter the consequences.
I was telling my hubby that our troops should be the superstars of today. Not actors, or singers, or politicians. I am seriously thinking of no tv and no unsupervised internet for my son for a long, long time as he grows up, because I do not want his education to come from our culture.
I hope that you are having a joyous Memorial Day! I am so sorry for rambling. I'd like to share some final thoughts with you that I think sum up the heart of today...
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
This Memorial Day we remember those brave men and women who gave their lives in defense of our most precious freedoms.
And we would do well to pray for the members of our armed forces who are placing their lives on the line even as I speak. They long to accomplish their mission and return home to their loved ones. Above all, they yearn for peace.
So do we all—especially since our nation has been at war for six years now. So I think it's important to think about how our longing for permanent peace—unattainable though it is in this world—points us toward a world in which it is possible. Chuck Colson
The Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
(There are actually five (or more) versions of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. This is the version that appears on the Lincoln Monument in Washington, D. C. and contains the words "under God." This term appears to be the most notable difference among the five versions. According to popular accounts Lincoln spoke those words.)
