LET ME BE A PATRIOT
“Patriot – A person who loves his country, and zealously supports and defends it and its interests.”
~ Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
This weekend marks the 244th birthday of the dearest place on the planet (to me, anyway): The United States of America! In celebration, I decided to take a brief pause from my latest series “Like Father, Like Son” and share something the Lord gave me last year about this time. I’m no poet, but the words come straight from my heart. I pray they touch yours as well…
“LET ME BE A PATRIOT”
“Let me be a patriot. I know you may not agree. You may not feel the same as I about ‘from sea to shining sea’.
The Founders were Diests, you might believe, or just tax-hating rebels; they had no right to defy England’s King, no right his bonds to sever.
‘American Idealism’ may not be your thing; you may not feel it’s fair. ‘There’s lots of countries,’ you might insist, ‘ “we’re special”, we can’t declare.’
I get it. I do. I understand your view: you want to be inclusive. You don’t want to offend someone, seeming closed-minded or abusive.
You feel you must know every single fact before you can say ‘they were right’, yet history’s been changed so many times you feel left in a perpetual night.
I understand: confusion is rampant. ‘The truth’s never simple,’ experts will claim.
Maybe they’re right or maybe it’s simply they can’t handle a truth that is always the same.
I’m not telling you, ‘You should never argue.’ To change your mind, I won’t even try to do.
But I’m asking from my heart, and my request is true:
Let me be a patriot!
Let me cry when ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ is played, standing tall with my hand on my heart;
Let me salute the ‘Red, White, and Blue’ where it waves, illuminated in the dark.
Let my hands burst applauding as the bombs burst above me, glittering fireworks burning brightly to ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee’;
Let my mouth close in reverence as ‘Taps’ sounds out slowly, ever rememb’ring ‘eternal vigilance is the price of liberty’.
Let my chest swell with pride at the Tomb Guard’s stride, his unending vigil for the soldiers unnamed;
Let me pledge my allegiance to my Flag and my Country, and if I do it for my God let me do it unblamed.
Let me love my America with my voice like a trumpet: ‘Pilgrim feet’, ‘Patriot’s dream’ sung with honor unstained;
Let me gaze on her map with all child-like wonder: from Atlantic to Pacific, every border maintained.
Let me believe in ‘One Nation Under God’ and that the Founders themselves prayed we’d be,
A nation of virtue, committed to Christ, for ‘Forget Him,’ they warned, ‘and we’ll cease to be free!’
If you don’t understand or approve or agree, well, it’s true, that’s your right you’ve been given,
But don’t condemn me if I choose to see those same rights as a gift straight from Heaven.
And one further thing I beg you to remember, before you ‘write-off’ all the patriots like me:
You only have freedom to discredit America because another Patriot died that you might be free!”
Happy birthday, America! Long may your banner wave!
CHOOSE HEROIC,
CHRISTIS JOY
