A RECIPE FOR GRATITUDE!

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4 steps to gratitude, a comfortable life, a grateful nation, entitlement, grateful people, grateful to whom, gratitude, humility, Mayflower, multicultural version of Thanksgiving, pilgrims, Thanksgiving, The Real Story of Thanksgiving

Have you noticed the glaring absence of Thanksgiving? Our American culture skips every so quickly from Halloween to Christmas – or “Sparkle Season!” *eye roll*

Whatever happened to THANKSGIVING?

The logistics of gratitude, if we take the time to think about it, require us to recognize our own place in the scheme of things. We cannot be grateful is we feel we are deserving of ANYTHING.

“Gratitude is a function not of how much we have, but rather of how much we have relative to how much we feel we deserve.”

The “entitlement” attitude so prevalent in America today completely contradicts GRATITUDE. We are either entitled to “a comfortable life” or not. If all Americans are entitled to “a comfortable life”, then what distinguishes Americans from others across the planet whose lives are anything but comfortable, by our standards? Yet, in the garbage dumps of the Philippines, or Guatemala, or Calcutta gratitude is more common than in the lines at Macy’s, Nordstoms, or even Walmart. Only when we recognize how much God has given us and how little we deserve it, can we come to a place of faith, love, and gratitude. Only when we dare to look UP from a position of HUMILITY, can we apprehend a true sense of gratitude.

A RECIPE FOR GRATITUDE

Here, then, are the 4 steps to gratitude:

1. Recognize all the good that you possess. Count your blessings rather than attempting to measure your apparent lack!
2. Acknowledge that everything you have is a gift, not something you deserve … that God has enabled you to earn it, build it, create it, and maintain it.
3. Identify the source of the gift, whether God or a human being. Gratitude is pointless without an object to receive our thanks.
4. Express your thanks openly and cheerfully.

The-Landing-of-the-Pilgrims-by-Henry-A-Bacon-circa-1877

The Pilgrims of the first Thanksgiving obviously appreciated God’s sovereignty and provision in that first crossing. They knelt in gratitude almost immediately as their feet hit solid ground. They were grateful not for a high standard of living, but simply for their survival that first Massachusetts winter in the New World. Deeply religious people, they felt gratitude to God for his direct and indirect provision. The first Thanksgiving feast was their way of expressing that gratitude to God.

The Real Story of Thanksgiving

by Rush Limbaugh, 2011

“The First Thanksgiving” (1915), by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris (American painter, 1863-1930).

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT – audio link HERE

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING at Plymouth, MA. Oil on canvas, 1914, by Jennie A. Brownscombe.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: Now time for a tradition, an annual tradition, and that is The Real Story of Thanksgiving from my book that I wrote back in the early nineties. I wrote two of them, actually. In one of the books I wrote, The Real Story of Thanksgiving. And reading from it has become something we do every year on the program because it’s still not taught. The myth of Thanksgiving is still what is taught, and that myth is basically that a bunch of thieves from Europe arrived quite by accident at Plymouth Rock, and if it weren’t for the Indians showing them how to grow corn and slaughter turkeys and how to swallow and stuff, that they would have died of starvation and so forth. The Indians were great — and then, in a total show of appreciation, we totally wiped out the Indians!

We took their country from ’em. We started racism, sexism, bigotry, homophobia; spread syphilis; and, basically, destroyed the environment. That is the multicultural version of Thanksgiving, and it simply isn’t true. The real version of Thanksgiving is in my second best-seller, 2.5 million copies in hardback: See, I Told You So. “Chapter 6, Dead White Guys, or What the History Books Never Told You: The True Story of Thanksgiving — The story of the Pilgrims begins in the early part of the seventeenth century … The Church of England under King James I was persecuting anyone and everyone who did not recognize its absolute civil and spiritual authority. Those who challenged ecclesiastical authority and those who believed strongly in freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned, and sometimes executed for their beliefs.” In England.

” The “Mayflower” approaching Cape Cod, November 1620.” by A.D.Blake.
In the late afternoon the “Mayflower” runs along parallel to the Cape Cod peninsular as she approaches , what is now known as Provincetown.

So, “A group of separatists first fled to Holland and established a community. After eleven years, about forty of them agreed to make a perilous journey to the New World, where they would certainly face hardships, but could live and worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible. The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example.

“And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work. But this was no pleasure cruise, friends. The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found — according to Bradford’s detailed journal — a cold, barren, desolate wilderness.” The New York Jets had just lost to the Patriots. “There were no friends to greet them, he wrote.” I just threw that in about the Jets and Patriots. “There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims — including Bradford’s own wife — died of either starvation, sickness or exposure. When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats.

“Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of” the Bible, “both the Old and New Testaments. Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well.” Everything belonged to everybody. “They were going to distribute it equally. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well.

“Nobody owned anything.” It was a forerunner of Occupy Wall Street. Seriously. “They just had a share in it,” but nobody owned anything. “It was a commune, folks.” The original pilgrim settlement was a commune. “It was the forerunner to the communes we saw in the ’60s and ’70s out in California,” and Occupy Wall Street, “and it was complete with organic vegetables, by the way.” There’s no question they were organic vegetables. What else could they be? “Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives. He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage,” as they saw fit, and, “thus turning loose the power of the marketplace. That’s right. Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism.

The Arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers, c. 1864, (oil on canvas) by Antonio Gisbert (1835-1901)

“And what happened? It didn’t work!” They nearly starved! “It never has worked! What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation! But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years — trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it — the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild’s history lesson. If it were, we might prevent much needless suffering in the future.” If it were, there wouldn’t be any Occupy Wall Street. There wouldn’t be any romance for it.

“The experience that we had in this common course and condition,'” Bradford wrote. “‘The experience that we had in this common course and condition tried sundry years…that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing — as if they were wiser than God,’ Bradford wrote.” This was his way of saying, it didn’t work, we thought we were smarter than everybody, everybody was gonna share equally, nobody was gonna have anything more than anything else, it was gonna be hunky-dory, kumbaya. Except it doesn’t work. Because of half of them didn’t work, maybe more. They depended on the others to do all the work. There was no incentive.

“‘For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense,'” without being paid for it, “‘that was thought injustice.'” They figured it out real quick. Half the community is not working — living off the other half, that is. Resentment built. Why should you work for other people when you can’t work for yourself? that’s what he was saying. So the Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive. So what did Bradford’s community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the under-girding capitalistic principle of private property.

Signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1620.

“Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and permitted to market its own crops and products. And what was the result? ‘This had very good success,’ wrote Bradford, ‘for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.’ … Is it possible that supply-side economics could have existed before the 1980s? Yes,” it did. “Now, this is where it gets really good, folks, if you’re laboring under the misconception that I was, as I was taught in school. So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians.” This is what happened. After everybody had their own plot of land and were allowed to market it and develop it as they saw fit and got to keep what they produced, bounty, plenty resulted.

“And then they set up trading posts, stores. They exchanged goods with and sold the Indians things. Good old-fashioned commerce. They sold stuff. And there were profits because they were screwing the Indians with the price. I’m just throwing that in. No, there were profits, and, “The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London.” The Canarsie tribe showed up and they paid double, which is what made the Canarsie tribe screw us in the “Manna-hatin” deal years later. (I just threw that in.) They paid off the merchant sponsors back in London with their profits, they were selling goods and services to the Indians. “[T]he success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans,” what was barren was now productive, “and began what came to be known as the ‘Great Puritan Migration.’

But this story stops when the Indians taught the newly arrived suffering-in-socialism Pilgrims how to plant corn and fish for cod. That’s where the original Thanksgiving story stops, and the story basically doesn’t even begin there. The real story of Thanksgiving is William Bradford giving thanks to God,” the pilgrims giving thanks to God, “for the guidance and the inspiration to set up a thriving colony,” for surviving the trip, for surviving the experience and prospering in it. “The bounty was shared with the Indians.” That’s the story. “They did sit down” and they did have free-range turkey and organic vegetables. There were no trans fats, “but it was not the Indians who saved the day. It was capitalism and Scripture which saved the day,” as acknowledged by George Washington in his first Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789, which I also have here.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I want to quickly tell you about one passenger on the Mayflower, a guy named Francis Eaton. He was a carpenter. He was not one of the Pilgrims. He was another passenger. He was a carpenter. He died in 1633, 13 years after they landed at Plymouth, and here’s what he left in his will: “One cow, one calf, two hogs, 50 bushels of corn, a black suit, a white hat, a black hat, boots, saws, hammers, square augers, a chisel, fishing lead, and some kitchen items” and his season tickets for the Redskins-Cowboys game. No, no, seriously. This is the estate of one of the men who probably built many of the houses for the first settlers. Very modest. But it shows what he saw as wealth back then. By the way, the life expectancy back then was not much. Not compared to today. And just remember, they were not eating trans fats, and they didn’t live as long as we do today.

END TRANSCRIPT

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Sometimes, God is … GOD!

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blessings, challenges, difficult life, faith, God, GOD’s love, hardships, Laura Story, life, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, purpose, trials and tribulations, trust

Many people quote this verse at various times and sundry situations in their lives. It is a vital truth! “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Is 55:9 CEV) God’s priorities in our life are different than ours. He uses anything and everything we ALLOW Him to use as teaching tools for our growth in Him. That means He uses our prayers and answers them as He sees fit. It means he uses Nature to teach us His Ways. He uses other people, knowingly or unknowingly, to work His purpose deeper into us. There is nothing God cannot or will not use, as we pay attention. But it is His purpose He is working out in us, not our own!

We generally seek our own comfort, ease, or wealth. God, on the other hand, is changing us (with our cooperation) into the likeness and image of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 3: 17-18 CEV) Our Spirit is regenerated and new, but we live in corrupt bodies with unhealthy and unholy desires and habits. We all want our own way! We pray for healing, for smooth roads through the “wilderness,” for easy answers to life’s deepest questions, and we panic or revolt when we don’t see the responses we seek. Right?

There are times when God gives us exactly what we want or need. There are also times when, thankfully, God doesn’t give us what we ask for because He knows where He is taking us and what He is building into us. We seldom know.

Remember Paul’s story? He was a passionately religious man raised in the height of the traditional Jewish knowledge and traditions. So fervent was he that he chased down and murdered new Believers until God confronted him personally, like He does each of us. In that moment, Paul saw Jesus as his Messiah, and he never looked back. ACTS 9: 1-22 CEV Some believe Paul was visually disabled for the rest of his life. Paul gained a deeper revelation of God’s grace. “My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.” (2 Cor 12: 1-10 NCV)

Years ago, I was a single soldier stationed in Alaska. It happened that I was the ONLY single girl in the small Christian fellowship on the base. I remember fervently praying for a Godly husband. A single man began to show interest, and we dated a few times. One night while praying again for “my husband,” thinking of this young man, I felt God say to me, “You can have this man if you wish, but He is not my BEST for you.” WHOA! The ball was in my court! Reluctantly, I yielded! I wept for days after I explained my feelings to the guy. We continued to be friends, and a few months later, he reunited with his fiance. Last I heard, they were living happily ever after!

We can pout and throw our tantrums, but if we are truly surrendered to Christ, we must acknowledge that He knows best. His ways are best. His plan is best. When we are securely nestled under the shadow of His wing, we can hear His heartbeat of devastating love for us and know that everything … EVERYTHING that we encounter comes through His fingers and is laced with His love to accomplish the purpose He intends. Even the traumas and tragedies that we each face at times, will produce good fruit as God redeems the situation.

Don’t hear me saying that God creates bad or difficult situations for us. That is not what I’m saying. He permits them for His purpose. Some difficulties are simply a result of our own unhealthy attitudes or behaviors, and we are simply “reaping” what we “sowed.” Some hardships are simply part of living in this corrupt world. We also have a very real enemy but, GOD is in CONTROL, right?

Do you love God? Are you “called according to His purpose?” If so, then trust that even the most painful and challenging situations that face us are meant to build the character of Christ into us, and for that, we can be eternally thankful!

MEDITATE on THIS: Psalm 139

THE DOOR SWEEPER

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America, deception, lies, OATH, Oathkeepers, Obama adminstration, Our sacred Honor, patriots, poetry, Sons of Liberty

Behold, standing by the swinging doors,
The burly DOOR SWEEPER, with outstretched arms,
His implements of deception held firmly in clenched fists,
Ready to hide all evidence of evil.

Masked ingeniously by the sweet songs of summer,
The DOOR SWEEPER silently sweeps truth underground,
While the masses enjoy their sweet summer splashes,
And TRUTH sinks silently into the deep.

Named for their heroes, the Sons of Liberty gather,
Bound by honor and driven by an Oath,
To lend an arm to History’s wayward babe,
And regain our firm footing on solid moral ground.

Blinded by ignorance and crippled by distraction,
The masses are lulled into vain satisfaction,
But Liberty will endure and arise stronger still,
And the DOOR SWEEPER will lick his wounds in defeat.

Hark! How the call of History beckons,
To the heart of mankind to see clearly the subtle signs:
A magnitude of lies and a flood of deception
Has mangled and beaten Truth out of our sight.

Yet, it lingers nearby, guarded by honor,
The Sons of Liberty are coming together at last,
To rise to the occasion and defend unto death,
The noblest, most courageous song of America!

Seldom heard additional verses.
Give these lyrics some thought … and notice the punctuation!

InspirationMonday via BeKindReWrite!

Which Pledge Works?

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adaptation, America, Arabic, citizens, English, history, Socialism, The Pledge of Allegiance, WE THE PEOPLE

The Pledge of Allegiance

I read an article today about the children in a high school in Colorado reciting the Pledge in Arabic, and replacing “under God” with under Allah. It reminded me of the history of the Pledge, so I thought I’d remind us all.

“The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth’s Companion on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.

In its original form it read:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

In 1923, the words, “the Flag of the United States of America” were added. At this time it read:

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words “under God,” creating the 31-word pledge we say today. Bellamy’s daughter objected to this alteration. Today it reads:

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Section 4 of the Flag Code states:

The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”, should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.”

The original Bellamy salute, first described in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, who authored the original Pledge, began with a military salute, and after reciting the words “to the flag,” the arm was extended toward the flag.

At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag. Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the military salute — right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it. Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.” At the words, “to my Flag,” the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, toward the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side. The Youth’s Companion, 1892




Shortly thereafter, the pledge was begun with the right hand over the heart, and after reciting “to the Flag,” the arm was extended toward the Flag, palm-down.

In World War II, the salute too much resembled the Nazi salute, so it was changed to keep the right hand over the heart throughout.”

The original pledge was designed as a Socialist tool, but it was also made to be adaptable to any nation. It may well be that we, as Americans, will have to lay claim to the version, the adaptation of the Pledge we want. As for me and my house, we will cling to our God and our guns and the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America under God. As a Vet, my oath never expired, so that, too, continues to be my oath! It is up to us, the People of this nation to DEFINE the nation we want.

Related reading:

• What’s Conservative about the Pledge of Allegiance?
• Resolution Revolution: Making a Better America by Being a Better Me
• Is America a Democracy or a Republic?

WHAT’S HE BUILDING IN THERE?

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Building, character, choices, Creator, goal, Inspiration Monday, life, source, treasure, values

WHAT’S HE BUILDING IN THERE?

Out of the abundance of the heart, my mouth speaks,
From all that Life has poured into me thus far:
The good, the difficult, the fun, and the not-so-much fun;
The true riches of this world are incorruptible.

Out of the abundance of the heart, my mouth speaks,
Nuggets of golden wisdom wrapped in pain,
Compassion born of struggle, and patience from grief,
Still joy and rejoicing come freely in the morning.

Out of the abundance of the heart, my mouth speaks,
Paper lies unfold and fall away along with phantom pain,
But gratitude flows unchecked, persistent, and random,
Like the flight of a butterfly through a bountiful garden.

What is the treasure that germinates in your heart?
What dream or trial or endless rage?
What is the Source or Goal of your heart?
What is our Creator building deep inside you?

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good;
and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.
For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
Luke 6:45 NKJV

Check out Inspiration Monday @ BeKindRewrite’s place!

Road Rage & Cousins

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America, choices, control, COURTESY, Grow up, IMPERFECTION, kindness, out of control, plan ahead, road rage, Self-control, self-government, unacceptable behavior

Ever been on either side of a “Road Rage” incident? Someone cuts you off and nearly drives you into another car or obstacle? Or maybe someone forgets to signal for a turn and you wait and wait … then they turn! It’s enough to make your blood boil, right? Of course it is! You’re justified in your feelings, so what’s your response? Do you pound the steering wheel and let loose a string of colorful words? Do you flip the “idiot” the bird? Do you ram his car from behind?

What if it’s YOU? What if YOU’RE the one who forgot to signal because you were engrossed in a conversation on our phone? What if YOU are the one who lost concentration for a second and pulled out in front of an oncoming vehicle? Never done it? I have! I confess! Not often, but it has happened.

Most of us ave been on BOTH sides of bad driver courtesy. Hmmm COURTESY … is that a WORD? Is it something any of us think about any more? Yea, sure there are LAWS, but then there is … COURTESY. What happens if two cars arrive at a 4-way stop at the same time? Who goes first? Is it just a matter of reflexes and which punches the gas first?

Road rage is just one evidence of a universal problem we humans experience – IMPERFECTION! Now, I realize some of us are … almost perfect, but we all know the other guy is anything but perfect! In fact, the other guy is an absolute idiot, if you tell the truth, right? Until … you miss that STOP sign hidden behind a low-hanging tree branch and fly through the intersection past a parked patrol car! Ooops!

GIVENS:

1. ALL HUMANS ARE FLAWED
2. EACH live HUMAN WILL OFFEND (disappoint, discourage, frighten, embarrass, confuse, irritate, annoy, bother …) SOMEONE TODAY
3. EACH live HUMAN WILL BE OFFENDED TODAY, and, sad but true,
4. YOU WILL OFFEND SOMEONE TODAY

In light of the fact that I KNOW I will offend someone today, or at least will have the opportunity to offend someone today (in or out of a car), I can CHOOSE (gotta love FREEDOM) ahead of time, what my response will be. I can, therefore, BE PREPARED when the incident occurs.

It is humanly possible to decide ahead of time what my response will be to “OFFENSE.” ( as in disappointment, discouragement, fear, embarrassment, confusion, irritation, annoyance, bother …) I can CHOOSE:

• to throw my justified “rage” (or other justified reaction) at the well-deserving “idiot” for daring to ruin my day, OR
• to acknowledge the “mistake” graciously, as I would like to be treated in the event of MY error.

If I respond in RAGE, I can expect RAGE when I mess up. If, on the other hand, I can hold it together and wave off the mistake kindly, maybe the next time I drive with my head in my phone instead of on my driving, I will be shown kindness as well.

THIS is called: SELF-CONTROL! YES! (or Self-government) You and I have a DOMAIN! It is our own thoughts, words, and deeds! I have the ability to be … IN CONTROL of my words – to choose to speak kindness or not. Btw, truth need not ALWAYS be spoken, if it cannot be done in kindness! Honesty is wonderful, but it is trumped by Kindness!

RIGHT???

I make plenty of mistakes, just ask my kids! It is my hope, that when I do, kindness will be the response. Anger serves no positive purpose. NONE! It raises our BP, and who knows what all inside our body, and it takes our mindset to a bad place … an unsettled place.

It is the SOFT answer that turns away wrath! Did you know this? Try it next time someone yells at you. Quietly apologize. (Right or wrong!) So the next time you are distracted while waiting for the traffic light to change until a horn blasts you back to reality, smile and wave in apology as you drive away. Or the next time you’re BEHIND someone asleep at the light … don’t honk heavy … just tap it enough to alert the distracted driver in front of you and wear a smile when he looks back. Both of you will feel so much better than an ugly “Road Rage” incident.

SELF-CONTROL
is just controlling your SELF

Just in case you aren’t sure, this approach works for OTHER things as well. FREEDOM is a great thing – it allows us CHOICES!!! Wise men and women have debated the various structures of government for millennia, but most have been unwilling to recognize that even the seemingly perfect structure cannot provide security and freedom without self-government. The individual must “govern” his own choices, his own thoughts, his own responses, and his own behavior for Liberty to endure.

Each individual must undertake this journey. It does no good if only a few manage themselves well. For security and freedom to flourish in any civilization, the people must learn SELF-GOVERNMENT … self-control! We must teach our children to control their urge to lie, to steal, to throw a tantrum when they don’t get their own way. We teach them both by example and by correcting unacceptable behavior. Throwing a tantrum because mommy won’t buy that candy bar at the check out is NOT acceptable behavior.

It is time to Grow up, America! We have behaved badly for too long. Stop pointing to other people’s bad behavior as an excuse for our own bad behavior. Stop looking for JUSTIFICATION! When we throw our tantrums, we shame the GOOD and HONORABLE among us. We disrespect our GOD and our HERITAGE when we do not extend COURTESY to one another. We cannot control the thoughts and behaviors of others, but we CAN and MUST control our own! We KNOW better! We were taught better, at least if we’re over 35!

Just like our CONSTITUTION is not there to define our boundaries, but to define the boundaries of government, so GOD’s law is not here to confine us, but to release us to a more flavorful, more fulfilling life … if we just follow His WORD.

RESPONSIBILITY is FREEDOM‘s
last name!

Not the greatest video, but the SONG is GREAT!

The Birth or Death of American Liberty

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America, Battle Hymn of the Republic, God's Law of Love, Greatest Nation on Earth, individuals, LAW, morality, truth, We're the Greatest

Mine eyes have seen the glory … have yours?

Not long ago, I remember a discussion that posed this song, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, as our National Anthem. It’s a powerful lyric with a musical score that understands the lyrics. But what does it mean?

It means … America is a nation of individuals. Each of these men and women had their own stories, their own reasons to take a stand, and their own aspirations. None were professional soldiers. None were trained in the art of “building a new nation.” The only thing they had in common was a desire to live FREE, unencumbered by government restrictions and regulations, guided only by what was “RIGHT.” They’d had enough of a tyrant – the King – ruling over them and making decisions for them… for their own good. When the king decided to disarm them, telling them he (the government) would keep them safe and take care of them, they knew better. They’d seen how the King “took care of the people” before, and they knew there had to be a better way to live. They knew!

Now, flash forward 236 years and our government today is copying the same legislative pattern Britain’s King George III followed all these years ago. We have been lulled into complacency by the power-grabbing elite of both parties, and in the process we have compromised our values, our morals, and now, we stand for NOTHING!

America is NOT the Greatest Country in the World

If only we could remember that our neighbor is just like us. We are all the same in our basic needs. Even the major religions all believe the same basic moral values and strive to improve both the individual and the culture by helping each other. If only we could remember what it feels like to do the “RIGHT” thing instead of the most profitable thing. If only we could remember the things our gramma taught us …

• If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
• You have two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you speak.
• Be nice to the stranger, because you may find yourself in a strange place sometime in need of help.


And so on …

There is a TRUTH that supersedes all other thought. There is a Law that is universal, fair and honest. There is a morality that governs LIFE. It is God’s Law of Love.

This is NOT a requirement to be a CHRISTIAN, but simply a point of contact, a guideline, measurement stick. Each of the major religions hold to the same basic MORAL tenets, even if other aspects differ. Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity all respect LIFE. Even Islam respects life, although they define it differently. The point is … KINDNESS, RESPECT, HONESTY, CIVILITY, INTEGRITY … there is no LAW against any of these, nor any other society that abhors any of these things. They were once vaunted here, in the United States of America, a mere generation ago. Many remember … Can we not recapture these VALUES to put VALUE back into our daily discourse with one another? Hatred is such an ugly thing! Even uglier on the streets and in the homes of … US!

God’s Law of Love is the ultimate fulfillment of Biblical law, including the Ten Commandments, as it fulfills the intent of such laws. “All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14). Through Christ’s salvation and His Law of Love, Christians are released from the Mosaic laws in the Old Testament and are no longer bound by them. Instead, they are held to a higher law—Christ’s Law of Love, which should guide all our interactions with others. It is from this place that real liberty springs!

Only WE can change America. It’s not up to the government, or Big Business, or Walmart, or the oil companies. It’s up to US… you and me. We must decide. We MUST choose … Liberty of die!

Is America Moving Toward … Darkness?

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consequences, For such a time as this, liberty, moral decline, poetry

By all appearances, America has joined the ranks of Socialist nations like the UK and Italy to open wide for Islam’s welcome in spite of the volumes of evidence that decry such a move. No other “religion” (and I use the term loosely) has such an extreme “exclusivity” clause as Islam which commands “JIHAD” on all who will not convert. No exceptions, no other criteria, no other religions accepted.

“Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
Alexis de Tocqueville

It cannot be a good thing, an evolutionary bonus for one nation to open its doors to it avowed enemy, even in an attempt to “understand” them. We in the West, cannot get inside the heads of these people because we haven’t lived their lives, their morals, their life standard. I’m not talking about rich v poor here. Afghans, for example, have never tasted personal liberty. They teach their children hatred of the Jews and the West from their births. Americans are not familiar with this even if we “know” it with our minds. it is something totally foreign to us.

“Given the history of mankind, few generations escape the threat of civilizational darkness in one form or another, and the Free West has had perhaps more than its share of challenges. If blessed or fortunate, these forces of destruction are met when a people are in their ascendency or vigor and able to command their virtues as a counter to subjugation or annihilation. In contrast, societies which have forgotten their martial fortitude and love of self-determination, a trait that all healthy higher cultures manifest, telegraph unmistakably that they are exhausted and ripe for concessions. Having waxed luxurious and insensate, such peoples grow to believe that the world was forged on the day they were born and will end when they have passed through the ether. In obliterating the past, the future is reduced to a fool’s dream that is as unworthy of concern as the beating of a butterfly’s wings in the Sudan. I believe that we find ourselves in this latter age.

“And who can doubt that America is quickly becoming such a people? Although possessing a military-technical prowess that has been the envy of the earth, the prerogatives and prudential will to utilize that power has been diminished by the preoccupations of self-doubt and the insane crippling fetish for equalization that invariably accompanies the debilitated spirit. To be sure, nothing exemplifies such moral enervation as the schizophrenic Obama foreign policy of “leading from behind.” Indeed, this passive-aggressive policy funnels money and arms to our sworn enemies while it disengages into the persona of a sideline spectator — creating a power vacuum that is enthusiastically filled by foreign seats of power that revel in our enfeeblement and contemplate our impending humiliation with gusto.” READ MORE

One of the FACTS children today are not being taught is that our decisions, thoughts, and actions all have CONSEQUENCES! Consequences can be positive or negative. When written, consequences are posed in “If – then” form: If it rains, then the ground will get wet. If I smile at the stranger, then she may smile back. If you eat lots of sugar, then you may develop diabetes. If you are lazy, then you most likely will not become wealthy (unless you get into politics!)

The moral decline that is lauded by the left and decried by members of the Tea Party will have consequences. Some are already showing in the rapid rise in the numbers on food stamps and disability. A civilization that is encouraged not to work, will soon stop working, or at least, stop working well. But there’s far more to it than “giver-ment” dependence.

“When, in the 1950s, Nikita Khrushchev said, “We will bury you,” and, “Your children will live under communism,” Eisenhower’s America scoffed.

“By 1980, however, the tide did indeed seem to be with the East. America had suffered a decade of defeats. Southeast Asia had fallen. The ayatollah had seized power in Iran. Moscow had occupied Afghanistan. Cuban troops were in Ethiopia and Angola. Grenada and Nicaragua had fallen to the Soviet bloc. Eurocommunism was all the rage on the continent.

“Just a decade later, the world turned upside-down. The Berlin Wall fell. Eastern Europe was suddenly free. The Soviet Union disintegrated. China abandoned Maoism for state capitalism.

“Now, 20 years on, the wheel has turned again — toward darkness.

“In an essay, “The Return of Toxic Nationalism,” Robert Kaplan, a geopolitical analyst for Stratfor, writes that Western elites are failing to see the larger, darker picture of our evolving world.

“Out of the Arab Spring will likely come an “Islamist-Nasserite regime” in Cairo, writes Kaplan.” READ MORE

Though it may seem a bit redundant, I believe with the Founders that …

“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.

Alexis de Tocqueville

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

For Such a Time as This

It’s time, it’s time for Americans
To quit playing round,
It’s time, it’s time, to find our way through
To the land of the free, the home of the brave.

Where men and women, young and old,
Are rich within themselves,
And plenty they have to share and enjoy,
When respectfulness abounds.”

For such a time as this, we have been created!
For such a time as this, we’ve been equipped,
To tear down strongholds or share a friendly smile,
To destroy hatred in our streets.

So think for yourself, for a change, my friend,
And dare to remember when …
In spite of our differences, or maybe because of them,
Americans were actually FRIENDS!

Stop listening to the pundits
Who posture with pretty words,
But listen instead to your heart of hearts,
And hear the heart of the God of your youth.

For such a time as this, TRUTH has been revealed,
For such a time as this we have endured,
We know what hardship feels like and brokenness, too,
But more, we understand God’s GRACE.

**a song to the heart of America**
©2013 Eaglesong

Last Call Anyone?

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Benghazi-gate, But God, Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. Thomas A Harris, fast-furious, freedom, I'm OK; You're OK, LAST DAYS, Osama bin Laden, President Obama, SEAL Team6, secular humanist doctrine

If you haven’t listened to the title song posted here, please do …

This is not an article on the “Last Days,” but it is a post with the intent on drawing our attention to the bizarre flip-flop of good vs bad behaviors in our American culture today. Have you noticed? Have you seen “good” deeds outlawed while “bad” behavior is rewarded? Individual citizens are arrested for having a Bible study in their home while the current administration gets away with … “Fast & Furious” (Border agent Brian Terry slain by FBI weapon in Mexican hands), SEAL Team6 (that targeted Osama Bin Laden) 30 of 38 members of that team are now dead, and “Benghazi-gate” which resulted in 4 dead Americans and unknown numbers of survivors that have disappeared. There are other evidences, but the point is clear.

But this isn’t about politics or even President Obama. It is about the American people. It is about our “evolution!” Who knows what prompted those early adventurers to leave their European homes in search of … what? FREEDOM! If I asked each reader to give a definition of FREEDOM, I’d get as many different answers as there are readers. Our Declaration of Independence declares the purpose of government is to secure for every citizen our unalienable Rights, among which are LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS.

BUT … “There is a way which seems right to a man but its end is the way of death.” “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weights the hearts.” Proverbs 16:25; 21:2

Few would deny the human potential for good, but many deny the same humans the potential for bad. let’s clarify good and bad for the purpose of this article as good = constructive and bad = destructive.

Like the Prometheus of Aeschylus, who challenged the Olympian gods, and stole their fire to give to mankind, so our ancestors came to these shores, to bring progress, through science and Classical culture, safely away from the oligarchical pestilence of Europe. Here, ships arrive with Pilgrim settlers in Salem Harbor, 1628.

The early Pilgrims, Puritans, and merchants came to the “new World” to build, or contruct, a new world! The “old” world was fraught with tyranny, political & religious oppression, and affliction – “destructive” conditions. They sought a place to start fresh. Their moral compass dictated their ideals, and while there are always exceptions to the rule, they aspired to a high moral standard as taught by their religious practices. There is no doubt each perceived their obligation to strive for “holiness” in their everyday lives, and did so to the best of their ability and understanding, imperfect though they remained. Still, they sought to better themselves. Do we?

For decades now, students have been taught they are descendants of monkeys, simply another primate, with a somewhat larger brain. Some educators and scientists aren’t even convinced of that much. In the 60’s two radical physicians, Dr. Benjamin Spock and Dr. Thomas A Harris, took center stage with their work. Dr Spock encouraged permissiveness by telling parents they restricted the child’s creative potential when imposing morals. Dr. Harris confirmed this is his thesis: I’m OK; You’re OK Both of these men subscribed to a secular humanist doctrine which, basically says, “If it feels good, do it!”

What do we do, then, when we feel as Paul felt when he wrote:

ROMANS 7: 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

Psychiatrists and psychologists agree … Shove those guilt feelings down. Ignore them! They’re nonsensical, old-fashioned, and not logical. Heard any of that lately? Maybe in the “contraception” debate?

The TRUTH is that “compromise” has leaked into our American culture. On the Alternatives to Marriage website, I found this information:

“increasingly more children today are living with unmarried parents:

39.7% of all births are to unmarried women (CDC, 2007).

Nearly 40% of different-sex, unmarried American households include children (CPS, 2007).

41% of first births by unmarried women are born to cohabiting partners (Larry Bumpass and Hsien-Hen Lu, 2000).

About two-fifths of children are expected to live in a cohabiting household at some point (Census, 2000).”

If we think there will not be “fallout” from this, we’re only kidding ourselves. And, as always, it is the children who pay the price. The really pathetic part is there is no distinction in the organized church. We, as free but corrupt humans have chosen destruction … destruction of our own lives and those of our children. We have chosen destruction of our nation’s character and the liberties our predecessors fought and died to achieve. We have squandered our “birthright!” But God … God has a better way, if we will make the necessary adjustments.

I want to leave you with a few wise words … no, not mine! I ask you only to consider them while I do the same, and make the necessary corrections.

• “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.” Proverbs 4:23
• “There is a way which seems right to a man but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 16: 25
• “You may believe you are doing right, but the Lord judges your reasons.” Proverbs 21: 2
• “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. Jeremiah 17: 9-10

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