Happy Memorial Day folks. It’s a day set aside in the U.S. to remember the folks who have fought for our freedom. Since the days of the Revolutionary War, young men and women have been fighting for the country that we call home. Many have come home to see their families while others sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.
To close worship services yesterday, we sang a few verses of America, The Beautiful. Whenever I hear that song I go back to my visit of Mount Rushmore in May 2009. It is the least visited National Monument in the country (and the only one I’ve been able to visit), but stands for so much history of this country. As we sang America, The Beautiful yesterday, I couldn’t help but be reminded of all those who have passed on before us and worked so hard to unify this country and establish our freedoms. I indeed hope that one of these days our government leaders can drop their politics and partisanship and begin running the country for the sake of the whole again.
In whichever way you decide to celebrate this Memorial Day weekend, be it by grilling beef, pork, or chicken, remember to be thankful for those in the Military who have served/are serving our country and those families who lost their brave loved ones in the line of duty. God Bless the USA, guide our leaders, and help unify our people.
America, The Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion’d stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine!
O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
–Katharine Lee Bates, 1913
