May God Bless America the Beautiful

4th of July, Casper Wyoming, Contemplative, Faith, Family & Friends, Gardening, Health & Wellness, Inspirational, Jesus Christ, Music, Patriotic, Peace, Prayers answered, Religious, Thought provoking, Uncategorized 6 Minutes

By Cindy Bower

I LOVE the 4th of July. I feel deep gratitude to live in America. I’m the one with tears streaming down my cheeks as the flag passes in a parade and at the twenty-one gun salute at funerals. Of my eight great-grandparents, four were immigrants in the early 1900’s. They wanted to come here for a better life and did live the American dream with a LOT of hard work. Three great-grandparents descended from soldiers of the American Revolution.

Casper’s City Band has a wonderful patriotic program every July in the picturesque Washington Park bandshell. I LOVE to sing and play Patriotic songs whenever hymns at church which are as inspiring as the Christmas and Easter ones. Yesterday, while singing America the beautiful, I paid close attention to the lyrics of each verse, remembering once hearing comments regarding those lyrics and America’s current situation. My motor mind was heading in that way and I would like to share my thoughts and ponderings.

Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain. For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain.

These words are literal descriptions of my life growing up in Wyoming and traveling around our country. No skies are more spacious than Wyoming’s. We not only see waves of grain and native grasses but sagebrush, wildflowers, and countless varieties of trees and undergrowth. The mountain majesties can’t be avoided. Even the bleakest desert areas have backdrops of Rocky Mountains. I grew up toodling around the Laramie Mountains with my family. I’ve never grown tired of the raw rocky outcroppings. Whether in a vehicles weaving our way between monolithic rocky mounds and winding narrow canyons, or hiking and fishing among the rocks, granite gravel, and finding veins of sparkling quartz.

I’ve visited many other wondrous places of nature in America and have never doubted what this great land has to offer.

America, America! God shed his grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.

I think Americans have always prayed for God’s hand to be upon this country, but in these uncertain times, we could certainly use another call to prayer. My hope is that we will always have freedom of religion and humility to know where our blessings come from.

A large concern in recent years seems to be a loss of brotherhood, being replaced by blaming, exaggerated responses to troubles, and heightened division. In spite of the negative news being repeated ad nauseam, there are good people interacting in brotherhood. I attend several organizations whose members are focused on doing good for the community, including others, raising funds for service projects, and leading out when there is a need. Churches are doing the same, often in different niches of need. May America truly crown our good with brotherhood!

Oh beautiful for Pilgrim feet, whose stern impassioned stress. A thoroughfare of freedom beat across the wilderness.

When I think of the vision of our country’s early settlers, I am not surprised that they felt they’d been sent by God to a land where they could find peace, freedom, and hope. These ideals caught fire around the world and millions and millions of people now have the kind of free lives we enjoy here. These pilgrims in our early generations were feet on the ground doing what needed to be done as long as they lived. Just living day to day would have been a relentless task, and they were glad to have it!

America! America! God mend our every flaw.

Oh my, if ever we needed the Lord’s help it is now. We as individuals have flaws and so does America by way of collective flaws, many of them with short vision and self-serving. A false sense of pride exists where we assume we somehow can fix things ourselves. The true and effective way is through a higher power. Beyond churches of all faiths, even the 12-Step addiction programs acknowledges a higher power as the first step to healing and change. This higher power, however we look at that (for me it is through a Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit) needs to be America’s first step.

July 4, 1826, fifty years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died (perhaps not only by coincidence). These men sometimes called the feuding fathers, were among other early American statesmen and founders who were intelligent, articulate, well-educated, stubborn, and prideful. Somehow, in the horrible heat and humidity of the dog-days of summer, with illness for some, and others leaving families and businesses behind; God tempered their flaws to the point that this free land was born. May we humble ourselves to see our flaws and pray for guidance to keep this land free.

Confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law.

Yes, our souls need to have self-control. Our land of growing excesses has created hidden dangerous mindsets of selfishness, entitlement, comparing to others, get-out-of-my-way, and even the violence of looting, destroying property, and minimal consequences. These distract us from empathy, understanding, public service, and even neighborliness.

Somehow our liberty has to be connected to law. The inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, can be real when criminals are punished, taxes are fair, and honest people are doing business and making laws to protect people, not for their own self-serving gains. We can’t live in anarchy and feel peace.

It seems we have shifted from a limited government serving people in essential ways, allowing people to care for themselves, and see to local needs where they are best qualified to decide about education, safety, a seeing to people in need. The pendulum has swung to people serving government through ever increasing taxes and regulatory compliance, for the purpose of the government stepping into a Nanny State of wanting their fingers in everything. All this while feeling in more danger and unsurety.

Oh beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life.

At this time of year we are thinking so much of the heroes who did what must be done to win freedom and create a constitution formulated to provide freedom for countless generations to come here, as well as serving as a model of freedom for the whole world. Truly the world has been rising from the darkest of totalitarianism to cultures where people embrace freedoms similar to ours.

We also have modern-day heroes who have served our country in the military, first responders, and other public service. I love the phrase mercy more than life. This indicates a faith and knowledge that even if their life is lost or body harmed in the cause of freedom or helping others, that our merciful God has an eternal plan for their soul that far outreaches this brief mortal experience.

America! America! May God thy gold refine, till all success be nobleness, and every gain divine.

I love this line and look to the symbolism of Americans being the refined gold. Just in our community I am in awe of the passionate people who lead out in so many noble ways:

  1. There are people who have spent a lifetime creating skiing runs, swimming pools, ball fields, parks, race tracks, plays, musical events, and many other enriching opportunities.
  2. Others serve in organizations that preserve history, help youth, give scholarships, preserve the outdoors and outdoor sports, make and encourage art, and many other things.
  3. Some groups are concerned about the wellness of our community by encouraging mental health wellness, suicide prevention, community gardens, gardening conferences, beekeeping and other local food sourcing. There are organizations serving families and individuals who are suffering from cancer and other chronic and debilitating illnesses.
  4. Churches and others band together and offer support in many ways to the homeless, the grieving, broken families, the lonely, those wanting to get out of debt and become more self-reliant, and so many others.
  5. Neighborhoods here spent a harsh winter digging each other out of record amounts of snow in record low temperatures. This also happens when trees and branches are broken.Now they have planted beautiful flowers and gardens that beautify our town! Others serve by caring for public flower gardens.

All of these visionary and far-sighted people are acting in nobleness and bringing goodness.

Oh, beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years. Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears!

May Americans today realize the need to become modern-day patriots! People who see beyond the present and desire freedom for generations to come; who realize the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are heaven inspired, and need to be understood, taught, and preserved

Recent years have seen some of the most horrible times for our cities. Who hasn’t shed tears even watching the news, let alone being in the thick of it all! It is common for drugs, crime, destruction, violence, and poverty to be found. Darkness is pervading, yet we have some leaders and hopefully more will emerge with community support, who work to improve the circumstances. As citizens how do we seek to create these ennobling words of Katherine Lee Bates; to create gleaming cities of peace, prosperity, enthusiasm, safety, innovation, and JOY!

America! America! God shed his grace on thee, and crown they good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.

AMEN!

Beautiful Tabernacle Choir Performance here! https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org/articles/celebrate-america-the-beautiful.html

Beautiful Tabernacle Choir Performance here! https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org/articles/celebrate-america-the-beautiful.html

Published by Cindy Bower

Hi, I’m Cindy, or better known by a boss as Chatty Cathy with the extra-long cord. (Chatty Cathy was the first talking doll back in the 1960’s.) I love conversation, though my dental patients may say its rather one-sided and my husband is known to fall asleep to my chatter. Blogging is a natural outgrowth of my love of connecting with others beyond my newspaper columns (found at trib.com). I’m a native fourth generation Wyomingite, which not many can claim. My ancestors arrived from England, Germany, Canada, Croatia, Ireland, and other European countries. I love this great state! By most standards, our small population (600,000 for the whole state) might mislead one to assume opportunities are limited here. On the contrary. In Wyoming we value our roots in family values, love of the land, and opportunities to fly from the nest, armed with what we need to succeed. Growing up in a small town of 2,500, I enjoyed close relationships with many families as we spent time on local ranches, attended Saturday night square dances, and enjoyed exploring the out of doors in the mountains and outskirts of town. I learned (and loved) homemaking skills of cooking, canning, sewing, knitting, and decorating from Mom and my 4-H leaders. I was blessed to take piano and organ lessons as well as to sing in church, Job’s Daughters, and with friends in a group we called The Oddballs. Best of all, I had an upbringing of faith with caring teachers and youth leaders who built on the goodness of my own family. Those small town roots were strong as I left for college, marriage, and a career in dental hygiene. I still enjoy the same hobbies, with added roles of mom to six children, gardener (recruited to dirt-touching by my husband), piano teacher, harpist, and most recently as a writer. Even with bumps, detours, and occasional dark clouds in life, my faith continues to grow with daily study and reaching out to serve others. This blog was born with a desire to share enjoyment and meaning in life.

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