America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

We teach our children that this land was founded by men who wanted to honor God in their governing and give the citizens life and liberty and freedom to pursue their dreams.  It seems sometimes that being American projects pride and not humility, self over serving and that we are boastful and arrogant in our independence.

This week I’ve wrestled just a little bit over my patriotism.  I wonder often, if God will continue to bless our great land when we are failing so miserably in honoring Him with the very wealth and freedoms He has bestowed upon us.

I shutter at the corruption in our country… the filth and the perversions that are allowed and celebrated.  That the wholesome, idealistic American dream is becoming harder and harder to achieve.

But every Sunday as we drive to church one of my children will pray over our services and without fail they will say, “thank you that we live in a country where we can go to church and worship You.”  And they are right.  How thankful I am to live in a country where my children are allowed to go to school, to worship in freedom and where all three of them have the opportunity to dream big and work hard.

America is a beautiful place with a beautiful heritage.  On this independence day our family will remember the early Americans who gave their all to win our freedoms.  We will thank God for our country and we will wave our flag with pride.

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!

America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine.

-Katharine Lee Bates

 Happy Fourth Y’all!

post and pictures by Sunshine