Thankful for the Homeland

 A few days before the 250th celebration of America's Independence Day, I joined in with friends in the singing of patriotic songs.  My heart filled with gratitude as we sang America the Beautiful, My Country Tis of Thee,  The Star-Spangled Banner, and others. 

As we sang This Land is Your Land, my mind flashed back to the days when my third grade students and I sang those lyrics. At that time, in the late 60s and early 70s, I had never seen -- and neither had they -- the places mentioned in the song. But since then, I have been blessed to see many of them, including the Redwood Forest, the Gulf Stream waters, the golden valleys (in California and in Yellowstone National Park), and ribbons of highway visible for miles in places like Montana.

Since singing those songs and re-living memories, I've often had thoughts like these: Thank You, God, for choosing America as a homeland for me. It is, indeed, a wonderful one. Not a perfect one, but definitely a wonderful land filled with awesome beauty and unparalleled freedoms.