Just a few weeks ago, I was out of state at a conference and a memory flashed before me. I remembered the days that I was a little girl living in Pilgrim Estates in Warwick, Rhode Island. I remembered going to elementary school and singing with my music teacher, “America the Beautiful”. My teacher had such a warm smile and so much love.
Being in her class, we knew everything would be okay. I decided to “Google” the lyrics to the song I loved to sing as a child in school- Here are just a few of the verses:
America the Beautiful
(Katharine Lee Bates, 1893)
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!
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!
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!
My prayer as a mother of three grown children today is:
“America! America! God shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!” Lord, shed your grace upon our land. For today, for tomorrow, and for all our children yet to be born. We welcome You into every part of our land. Without You, we are nothing. We acknowledge You and invite You into our homes.”
Amen