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!
A friend posted this on her face book wall.
It evoked memories of Elementary music classes.
It also brought back a memory of a dance recital.
The finale included this song and all dancers coming onto the stage carrying flags.
I remember the crowd standing to their feet.
It was the 70’s and I was young.
I remember the lump in my throat.
A sense of pride and belonging.
I didn’t understand it then.
Today we call it Patriotism.
This morning I went back to look at all the lyrics to this song.
I didn’t realize how many stanza’s there were.
The lyrics are beautiful:
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
Some lyrics I have never read or sung or remembered:
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 pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
I am thankful for:
The hope we have in Christ
Thanksgiving and then Christmas
Seeing so many friends at the polls
the ability to be friends with folks who share differing views on many topics
discussions about why people believe the way they do
prayer
my farm girls who are milking this morning
the farm boy and his willingness to struggle through the hard times
the oldest farm girl, her hubby and the two farmettes
the youngest farmette who just took off crawling
the college girl who will be coming home soon for me to dote on and fawn over
a faith that allows me to know, that no matter who is President, that God is still in control
the change I can make right here where I live
No matter the outcome of this election, we still have a responsibility to be the best we can be.
We are the ones working, living and breathing in this country.
We can bring about change.
We can love on our neighbors.
Talk to the lonely and downcast.
We can give of our time and money in so many ways.
Make a difference today.
One phone call to a friend.
Flowers to a neighbor.
Begin a log of gratitude.
It changes you.
It takes the “I” out of all your living so you can be loving.
I Peter 4:8
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
My mom loved the harmonies of these men.
May we all strive to live in Harmony to make beautiful music.
