Reflections on Patriotism

Have you ever read the story about how the Star Spangled banner was written?  Even if you have I highly recommend watching this slide show and sharing it with your kids.  It's a powerful reminder of the great people who have helped make our country what it is today and the divine protection our country has received time and time again.

Twenty years ago I thought I knew all about what it meant to be a patriot--wearing flag shirts on the 4th of July, painting my nails red, white, and blue, knowing the words to the Star Spangled Banner, and even listening to Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" all day.  I was only sixteen, but man oh man was I ever a true patriot.   

 In the ignorance of my youth, I truly believed that that's all there was to being a patriot.  But somewhere between having kids and growing older, my perspective has changed significantly through the years.   

The more I learn about our Founding Fathers and their faith and vision filled lives, the more I know that being a patriot is far more than just wearing patriotic clothes and proclaiming that I'm proud to be an American.  

Patriotism is about respect--respecting our flag, respecting our leaders, respecting our fellow citizens, and in turn respecting our country and what it stands for.  

Patriotism is about honor--honoring the memory of our Founding Fathers' visions and ideals, honoring the memory of the countless men and women who have lost their lives in the service of our country, and honoring God who prepared this great land as a beacon to the world.

And finally patriotism is about action--actively striving to make our homes and families stronger, acting to raise our children in wisdom and righteousness, and actively seeking for ways to improve our schools and communities.  Just because we're not running for office or holding a position of perceived power, we should never underestimate the difference that our actions can make.   

" I am only one, but I am one. I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do. "  

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Since I don't feel that I've been all that successful in conveying the feelings of my heart today, here are some wise words from President Ezra Taft Benson which better express the message I am trying to share.  

"America has a spiritual foundation. But today she stands at the crossroads, The crisis before her is a crisis of faith; the need is for greater spirituality and a return to the basic principles upon which this nation was founded.

In the words of Thomas Paine: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”   That was said on December 23, 1776, a time of great crisis in our struggle for independence. We face a similar spiritual crisis more than 200 years later.

The days ahead are sobering and challenging and will require the faith, prayers, loyalty, and courage of every citizen.

May God’s blessings be upon us that our generation will be equal to the task."

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Happy Independence Day and may God continue to bless America! 

America the Beautiful

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!

We have found a new Memorial Day tradition that we loved...DC at sunrise.  We arrived in DC about 6:00am, caught some gorgeous shots of the sunrise, and got to see the WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and Korean War Memorials all before 8:00 and well before all the crowds arrived.   It was probably the most meaningful Memorial Day we've ever had. 

Thank you to all the men and women who have fought to protect our freedoms over the years.   

We honor you this day.

Happy Memorial Day!

The Prayers of the Children

I love the simplicity and the sincerity of children's prayers and feel like us adults could learn a lot from their genuine expressions of gratitude and love to their Heavenly Father.  Instead of the rote recitations that seem to cumber us as adults,  they simply notice what's around them and pray for divine protection over those people and things that are nearest and dearest to them.  

They bless friends, brothers, sisters, blankies, special toys, stuffed animals, butterflies, princesses, pets, books or whatever else is on their mind.  I love that they trust God enough to recognize that He cares about what they care about.

Sometimes I get so caught up in praying for what I'm supposed to be praying for, that I forget to truly open my heart and communicate with God.  

As I say my prayers each day I am trying a little harder to remember to look around at the simple beauties of life that surround me and strive to better express my gratitude for them....  The sunset, the rainstorms, the kids not fighting, the azalea bushes in bloom, a clean bathroom, a thoughtful friend, a sweet husband, beautiful music...

Today I reflect back and express gratitude for what has brought me these tender feelings to ponder over.   With five kids in the house I've heard a lot of sweet, heart felt prayers, but lately  Ellie has prayed for us all to be more helpful and pretty.   Each day we all silently giggle that our sweet four-year-old's heart felt desire is for us all to become a little more princess-like, but really she has taught us what prayer is truly all about.    

Life Lessons or My Longest, My Most Serious Post Ever

"In the world, but not of the world." It's a notion that I've heard my whole life, have never really understood until becoming a parent.

As my kids have gotten older, I've grown more and more concerned with the world they're growing up in. It seems like filth and negative influences surround them on every side and even worse, somehow this filth is now getting passed off as acceptable by most of society.

As parents, we try to fortify our children with love, spiritual and intellectual knowledge, and most importantly an understanding of God's plan for His children, but ultimately we know that how they choose to live their lives is up to them. Force just isn't a part of God's plan.

Dang! I wish this letting them choose wasn't such a painful process. Who wants to see their own child make a stupid, preventable mistake? Yet somehow I forget that my own painful experiences eventually became times of great growth and understanding in my life, in fact I consider them very much a formative part of who I am today.

I don't get serious too often here on the blog, so allow me to continue on with my non-sarcasm and take a different, but related tangent...

The Sabbath day. The Bible says, "Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee." It seems like such a simple concept to dedicate one day out of seven to the Lord, but it's also something that is increasingly more difficult to do.

Glen works crazy hours and has limited time at home and it's really hard to not fill Sundays with all the things we didn't have time to do on Saturday. Sometimes the lawn just doesn't get mowed.

The kids just know to look at the calendar as soon as they receive a birthday party invitation. If it's on Sunday they usually passively mention to me, "Mom, Lincoln's having a party, but it's on Sunday so I told him I can't go." They're disappointed, but they know what the right thing is.

Glen and I were both athletes in high school and have loved watching our kids grow stronger and fitter as they've participated in their own sports. When the kids were younger we never had to worry about Sunday games, but now that Spencer's older it is getting more and more competitive and we've started to run into issues.

You may remember last fall when Glen petitioned the league commissioner of football to change some of Spencer's Sunday games to Saturday. Ultimately through Glen's persistence and a little miracle (if you ask us) two of his games were switched to Saturday, which meant that he only had to miss two of his games instead of four.

So this winter we were faced with the same dilemma. Spencer's favorite sport has always been basketball and we were so discouraged to learn that the city league he's always played with holds all of their 8th grade games on Sunday. Basically he and several of his friends decided to take the year off of basketball and resume it again next year in high school, rather than lower their standards about the Sabbath day.

We were proud of Spencer's decision and committment to keeping the Sabbath day holy, but we were also sad that he had to make that sacrifice. When we learned that neighboring city league still held their 8th grade games on Saturdays we thought we might give it a try. Unfortunately they didn't have enough players or coaches yet to form a whole league.

Enter Coach Glen (who had never coached any sport before) who immediately recruited 3 other guys who were taking the year off for the same reason as Spence.

With Glen, his assistant coach and four of the seven kids being LDS, we thought about calling the team, the "Stormin' Mormons", but we weren't so sure what those three 'other guys' would think about that. :) The boys were happy enough just to be able to play basketball. With a rather humble start of the season losing their first two games, the team has gotten stronger and stronger through out the season. The team had a stirring come-from-behind triumph in the leagues' semi-finals against an opponent the team had lost to twice during the regular season. Our own Spencer led the way in the come back knocking down five 4th quarter 3 pointers and scoring a total of seventeen 4th quarter points to help the team earn a spot in the league championship. Now, with a record of 6-4 and a place in the championship game this Saturday, I'd say the kids have held their own pretty well.

It has been very inspiring for us to see the boys work so hard and play with such determination, all the while standing up for what they know is right. Not too shabby for a bunch of 13 year old boys trying their best to be in the world, but not of it.

{If you've actually made it this far into my cathartic novel, then congratulations. Don't worry I should be back to my normal goofiness levels tomorrow.}

Trailing Clouds of Glory

What is more wondrous than gazing upon a newborn baby?

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
~William Wordsworth