July is the patriotic month. As Americans we hear about pride for our country, our heritage, our government, and our way of life. Speakers on the 4th of July say, “We are the greatest nation on earth.” It’s true, we enjoy many blessings. We have a strong military and we are a wealthy nation. Plus, we have certain human rights that many people in other nations envy.
Still, with blessings comes a great deal of responsibility. As Jesus said, “To whom much is given, much is required.”
However, whenever someone says, “I’m proud to be an American,” or “I’m proud of my children,” or “I’m proud of my football team,” the words of the Christian singer Wayne Watson come to mind.
Watson said, “The older I become, the less I find to be proud of and the more I find to be thankful for. I’m more thankful for my family than I am proud of them, because I realize that most of what they are is out of my hands. Most of the good that has happened to me in my career is not the result of me getting a record deal. I attribute those blessings to God. So, my ‘thankful’ list is growing much longer, while my ‘proud’ list is becoming much shorter.”
Watson is right on target! When we think about our nation rightly, what comes to us is gratitude to God for this nation and all its blessings. Deep gratitude to able to live here. Deep gratitude for the blessings we enjoy.
Blessings we have that we recognize come from God. Blessings given to us, when we rightly consider them. Given to because we happened to have been born here, or brought here -indeed all our families were immigrants at one point.
So, America is a gift to us from God. It’s not something we personally achieved, or something we earned. America is a land we have gratitude for because of it is God’s graceful blessing to us.
Curtis Fussell