Independence

"Blessed is the nation..."

Psalm 33:12

I'm a very fortunate gal, in that I've been able to see a lot of this beautiful country I live in.  I was born on one coast, then when I was young my family moved to the other coast, and then when I was a teenager, my family moved back to the coast from which we'd left.  Driving across the country twice, plus various vacations in between, allowed me to see a lot.

I've watched fireworks exploding over the Washington Monument as I sat on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

This is just a design, not an actual photo.  Those two buildings are not that close to one another in real life.

I have stood in the room where Thomas Jefferson and the framers of the Declaration discussed and argued, with the windows closed, in the sweltering Philadelphia humidity, perfecting the Document.

I have stood on the memorial to the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, watching flower petals float on water slick from the oil that still bubbles up from the sunken ship.

I have stood, at sunset, in the Gettysburg Cemetery where Abraham Lincoln delivered maybe the most powerful two-minute speech in history.

I have fired a cannon at Fort McHenry (yes, really.  In a re-enactment, when I was a kid).  And I have seen the flag that Francis Scott Key saw.

Harper's Ferry... Jamestown... Lexington and Concord and the Old North Church...

Mount Rushmore... The Alamo... and a hallowed field outside Shanksville, Pennyslvania..

Manassas... Valley Forge... Promontory Point, Utah... and Arlington National Cemetery.

Appamattox Court House and the Liberty Bell...

The freedom of a nation is achieved in a lot of different ways.  Repeatedly.  And I'm incredibly glad to have been brought to a deep understanding of the many people whose lives and deaths have impacted me.  And it makes me want to be a better person ~ the woman, and child of God, that He wants me to be.

Have a blessed Fourth... Celebrate that which makes you independent.

~ "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" ~

Psalm 33:12

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