On Sunny Lane: God Isn’t Finished With Me Yet

I don’t know about you, but I am proud and happy to be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.

Sweetheart and I are celebrating our anniversary too--100 years of marriage. The funny thing is they are not all years of our marriage together. We have both had previous marriages, so we add the years of our previous marriages to our own and, on September 7, it will all come up to 100.

Now you might suppose that, in the span of those years, we had good times and bad times. We did some great things and made some big mistakes. We have seen and done the good, the bad and the ugly. Yet, we are proud and happy that we are where we are today.

We can say the same thing about our country. We have done some things we should not be proud of, but we have taken some huge strides and made some huge achievements. Maybe, we still make mistakes, but we are also doing some good things. Every nation on our planet has skeletons in their closet and, I believe, they all try to do their best as they see it.

Yet, for all of our faults, people still want to leave the country of their birth and come here to live. Some risk their lives to do so.

It’s not wrong to be proud. It’s better than being condemning. It’s hard to move ahead when you do. We should teach our children about the achievements our country has made, while pointing out how we can learn from our mistakes. We cannot condemn violence if we engage in it ourselves.

The best place to teach patriotism is in our homes and schools. So, I am encouraged, when I pass one of our local schools, to see eight large signs that have been created by the students with words and symbols of our nation and celebrating our 250 years of existence. And thanks to the teacher who inspired them to do the project.

As for the mistakes we have made, I quote the words I have seen on the T-shirts that people sometimes wear, “Be patient with me. God isn’t done with me yet.”

Maybe, God isn’t finished with our nation yet either. And, maybe, we need to be patient with ourselves.

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Dorothy is the author of two books—“Miles and Miracles” and “Getting It All Together “. You can purchase a book or send a comment by emailing her at dorothybutzknight@gmail.com