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Grateful Greetings, July 4, 2002
This past year has produced a great deal of reflection on who we are as Americans, how have we become who we are, and what does this mean for us as to how we live our lives. As unthinkable as the events of September 11 were, they may have saved a nation that was mired in complacency and experiencing a moral and spiritual collapse. At the very least, the path of this nation has been altered toward a recognition of the price that freedom requires. Where our national mood was fractured, we now proclaim "United We Stand." Where God had been extracted from much of our daily lives, we now proclaim "In God We Trust."
We have been blessed over the past year by reminders and reawakening of how precious freedom is and how much is required of us if we are to be good stewards of the time allotted to us. This task will not be completed this year, or next, but requires a lifelong commitment. It is not a project we can put off and finally get around to one day. It is a call to live our daily lives in such a way as to protect liberty in all that we do.
We do not "own" America, but it has been entrusted to us for our time. Freedom is in our care. May this Fourth of July bring you special blessings and an opportunity to strengthen your resolve to seek "liberty and justice for all" in this "one nation under God," and throughout the world. |
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