Happy 250th Birthday Beautiful America!
I am so thankful to have been born in the USA. I’m thankful for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. I’m thankful for the wisdom given to our founders to build such a land. I’m thankful for so many who sacrificed, so that I can live free.
All nations are made up of humans, and thus each nation will have their own mistakes and sins. Yet America followed Great Britain in abolishing slavery when the whole world found it socially acceptable. We will always have much to work on, but we fought for civil rights to undo the horrors of racial injustice. America is quick to come to the aid of nations hit by disaster. As they say, America will be great as long as America is good. It’s not kind to welcome people who hate us, don’t appreciate us, and want to bring us down. That’s not what Ellis Island was.
In some groups it’s chic right now to hate America. They stir division and want to burn the place down. It’s been uplifting and an important reminder to see the posts on social media of those from other countries coming here for the World Cup and reporting how great a country this is and how good we have it. There is thankfulness and then there is ingratitude. It’s easy to spot who’s who. With that said, we cry out with the hymn below, “God mend thine every flaw!” Only Him.
"Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!”
Psalm 33:8
So to honor this land that I love on her 250th birthday, here are the lyrics to “America the Beautiful” written by Katharine Lee Bates:
“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, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every 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 every 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!”