A Special Perspective

This week leads up to the wonderful semiquincentennial celebration for the USA, or in much easier words, our 250th birthday. Happy birthday, America, land that I love! Please grab a cup of coffee or a glass of iced tea, and join me for a moment as I share a few thoughts about our nation from the perspective God has afforded to me.

I am always astounded to recognize that I have essentially won the jackpot of time and place in life. I do not take it for granted, and I’m so grateful to God for every single experience I’ve had that has led me to today. I love that the fact I was born in 1972 means I can remember the bicentennial celebration. I was four years old, and my parents took me and my ten-year-old sister to Disney World for our first trip there. It truly was magical, and I love to look back at our few photos from that time to see the array of plaid pants, bellbottoms, and 1970s fashion in all its glory at the Magic Kingdom. People have all kinds of things to say about the 70s, but for me, it was an idyllic time with my wonderful, godly parents who loved my sister and me so well, and who gave us every opportunity to flourish and fly in this wonderful country of ours. My father spent many decades in the service, and his example along with my mother’s gracious attitude as his wife and partner gave me such pride in our nation. What an incredible place! We are free, and there is so much wonderful opportunity for anyone who chooses to avail themselves of it.

My father’s time in the US Navy afforded me an eclectic education and experience, both in school and in Christian fellowship, as we moved to some very different places of the country and got to experience so many cultures and perspectives. People in the northeast, the south, and on the west coast are wonderful—we have far more in common than not, and I'm so grateful to have known people from every corner of the nation. And with no idea at the time that it was a relatively new thing for girls, I loved sports, and enjoyed softball and swimming until my love for swimming overwhelmed the other, which led me on a path to a swimming scholarship at a division one school. That was such a wonderful part of my early years and my educational experience. I learned so much from swimming at that level, and I’m grateful every day for the things the sport taught me about discipline and grit and being able to handle much harder things than I ever would have imagined I could.

I was so blessed to attend university, and earned a degree in elementary education with a specialization in English, which allowed me to explore my love for literature, while at the same time gaining a very useful tool for my future. I am employable, and have availed myself of that privilege quite a few years of my adult life. Even more than that, my education made me feel so much more confident in homeschooling my own children, which we did, and I’m forever grateful for that opportunity.

It is quite an indulgence to write all of these paragraphs about my own experience, which I take simply because I recognize that I have actually personally experienced the very best that America has to offer. I am so grateful for our godly family, both up the line and now down the line. and for the many friendships God has blessed my husband and me with, and recognize how all of these wonderful people have been such a rich part of life. I am so thankful for the gift of literacy, for the Bible, and for all of the wonderful authors and historians who have had part in shaping my thinking. And I treasure the wealth of experiences that life in this very special place has afforded me, and the perspective all of this has given to me.

This country is seeded with the blood, sweat, tears, sacrifice, and love of men and women who left everything that was dear and familiar to them to come to a place, sight unseen, with the hope of a new and better life, for themselves and especially for their children. Some left the old ways and the old countries willingly, some under duress, some literally sold themselves into service for the chance at opportunity that would not have been available to them in the old system (as did my distant great-grandfather), and some came simply because they had been expelled from the old world and had nowhere else to go—looking back was no longer an option. With a holy combination of God’s grace and sheer grit they built a life—a good, hopeful life—and something new and shining began to rise. People who would never have been more than a rich man’s servant in the old countries suddenly had modest farms and homes and businesses of their own. They were free to live and worship as they pleased, and God prospered them. 

This nation is unique. Regardless of how polarizing that statement can be, it is just true. I do not say that to disparage any other place or people at all—after all, God made the whole world and everyone in it, and He loves them all. But there has never been a nation like this one, founded on the audacious idea that men and women can actually govern themselves. Of course, our founders recognized that it would take a special kind of men and women to keep the new republic—and it is here I would love to park for just a moment. 

What kind of people can govern themselves? This is so dangerous, as we know that our hearts tend to be so selfish, and it is too easy to only watch out for ourselves and our own people and possessions without much care for anyone else. A people who can govern themselves need to be people who have access to someone who always knows exactly what to do and who always acts with the utmost wisdom and mercy and justice. It needs to be a people who are committed to one another's highest good so that no one is left behind or overlooked. The founders of the nation spent much time in discussion over this problem and possibility, looked back to the Bible and the wonderful law that God gave to His people as they came out of slavery in Egypt, and came out of those discussions with the wild notion that there actually was hope for this new kind of nation.

And so the United States of America was founded on the idea that people can govern themselves only when they allow God to help them. When they believe the most high God is real, and that the inalienable rights that we hold so dear come directly from Him. When they obey God's prescriptions, believing that He truly does know best. When they really do love their neighbors as themselves, and treat each person with dignity and respect. 

What a wonderful birthday gift it would be to our nation if we could recommit ourselves to be this kind of people! We spend far too much time and energy looking for politicians to heal our land when the power is in God's hands and in our own. We can believe God, and commit our hearts to obey Him in believing loyalty. We can truly strive to do unto others as we would have them do to us, even (especially!) when it inconveniences us. We can watch out for the poor and the needy and the downtrodden, actively doing something to alleviate their plight. We can look around ourselves in our own homes and our own towns to extend the love and grace and forgiveness that God has first extended to us. We can love and trust God, and ask Him to have grace and mercy on us as we celebrate a special birthday. 

Thank God for the first 250 years of such a wonderful nation, and may there be so many more years to come, for ourselves and our posterity! 

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Great Big News!! 

I am so pleased to announce that the second book in the Booksellers Mystery series is out! Allow me to present to you the blurb on the back cover...

The Gray Lady of Galveston continues the story of Caroline Mason and her family, this time as they track down a missing friend in a beach town. Caroline could ever have imagined the opposition and danger they would face as a story from the past made its way into the present. With the help of both fictional mentors and real-life friends, Caroline navigates complex clues to unravel this newest mystery, deep in the heart of Texas. 

The book is available on Amazon (with a Kindle edition for only $5.99!) or wherever online books are sold, or you can follow this link to purchase yours today!

The Gray Lady of Galveston