7/4/2019
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY !!!
It is truly a great day to be an American, this remembrance day. I’ve never been much of a “flag-waver,” but I doubt anyone is more grateful than me to live in this wondrous country. In a time when few people fully understand the present active grace of God, a time filled with thousands of various religions, all spouting out things the Lord Jesus Christ never sent them to do; and a time when there are as many political factions as there are loudmouths in Washington, DC, it is good to think of our beginnings, to be so thankful to not be under a despot, or a depraved and godless dynasty somewhere.
I believe the world and, yes, our country, is going the way the Bible prophecy tells us it is to go. Yet, here we are: we live in a land where we can still stand and deliver speech, go for thousands of miles uninterrupted nor encumbered by any of the harsh life of nearly 3/4 of all nations. While we moan the misery of our taxes and how those monies are spent, we do not daily face the need other people go through, just trying to feed their families. The SIMH in the next paragraph is from a theater production which depicts in story form the misery which, if we dwelt on it we would be hesitant to celebrate our heritage. But celebrate we must.
“I Dreamed a Dream” was the SIMH this morning. I’ve never seen Les Miserables (don’t know how to put the correct inflection marks), but the song was written for the Broadway and Musical version and 4 people get credit for it. Writing all their names here would take up too much space (chuckle.) Probably what prompted this to me in my head this morning was that I listened to a version by a marvelous talent, Haley Westenra, not too many days ago. Beautiful song. The song is about a love lost, but applicable to a more communal setting which indicates the loss of life’s purpose and intentions. Can we never regain what is lost and what is taken from us? Think of the larger picture of those who were our forebears: do we today embody what they desired for us? or have we thrown it all away? or are we systematically throwing it away as we slide from one generation to the next? Is America nearing a despotic time? Does the loss of the “republic” once established 243 years ago, ever slip from our grip a little more with each central government invasion of our rights? Rights we were guaranteed by the first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States are eroding into barely being remembered by middle-aged people today and not being taught at all to the next school-age generation. Unalienable? not at the moment.
As I see these things, I keep being reminded of what I know to be the necessity for repairing the breech, what needs to be relit and kindled anew in the hearts and minds of those now entering the majority of their lives. Read my list, add to it, take thought of it, and let us begin to rebuild in the people younger than ourselves, an heart full of the proper ways to live the “dream” once passed to us, a place of actual opportunity for the dream to be a reality,…for yet a little while longer.
My list:
Restore personal integrity by an avid study of God’s wisdom, found in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Then, attribute this wisdom to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and not usurp it to ourselves nor to others.
Look to Jesus Christ for personal salvation into a glorious eternity, earned for us by His sacrifice, His suffering, and His power of resurrection, which gives to us the promise of the same glory and honor.
Change the doubtful heart to one of faith in the written Word of God, that there be no doubt where truth rests.
Then comes activity, using free speech in our workplace, our streets, our bars and restaurants, our community houses and our ballot boxes, all while we walk in the light of God’s word and in the power of His might.
Can we bring back the dream of independent thought, the driving exceptionalism of what is positive and lasting from generation to generation? Yes. Will we? Only if first we want to. Then be willing to find and accept the reconciliation proffered by the Lord’s grace, and then follow by becoming purveyors of the same grasp of truth and purpose our founding fathers once proclaimed. Remember Mr. Franklin’s answer to the question “what sort of government have we, sir?” “A Republic, madam, if you can keep it,” he said.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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