One Nation Indivisible

"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."

I am old enough to remember when we used to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning in school. What a great way to start our day. I recall one day seeing the fire station flag across the street from the orchard behind our apartment. I stood there all alone with my hand over my heart and I said the Pledge of Allegiance out loud. I was pretty patriotic for a kindergarter and I was proud to be an American. 

I can't say why I felt so drawn to those words then but I can tell you that I know why I am drawn to them now. "One nation under God" reminds me of a Heavenly Father who I love. It reminds me that God is in charge and He has a plan for me and for this country. The word indivisible tells us what this land is all about. We must come together and support one another. One of the greatest days I have lived was 9/11. It didn't seem to matter what race, religion, political affiliation, or anything else you were as long as you were American. We were ALL American. I wish we could feel that kind of love and unity for one another every day! 

Last but certainly not least is "with liberty and justice for all" we should be upholding one another's liberties and certainly working to ensure justice for each individual. These are not nice ideas they are the ideals that this country is founded on. If we are not upholding justice and liberty we may as well tear up the constitution right now because that is what it means to us. 

One of the biggest enemies of unity, liberty and justice is Satan. He lies and tells us that it is every man for himself. He makes every effort to divide us because it is easier to ensnare us when we are alone. He hates our liberty. It was one of the biggest differences between his plan and Christ’s plan. He didn’t want us to be able to choose and now he seeks to take away our liberties and enslave us. He is an enemy to justice and also works to keep men away from God’s mercy. He literally hates everything good about the United States of America! 

Here's the truth. We are here on this earth to help one another. We are here to lift one another. We are here to defeat Satan and we can defeat him if we stand with Christ and stand together. He knows that he can not defeat us when we are unified and that is why he works so hard to divide us. He distracts us so we will forget about Christ and what he offers us. Right now he is running around screaming to draw our attention away from the truth. As long as we are so caught up in what he is telling us to think we are not thinking of Jesus Christ. As long as we are not thinking of Christ he can pull us away from him step by step. 

I found myself getting caught up in the cares of the world. It started with Covid-19 and moved on to earthquakes and then racial tensions. There will always be ways for Satan to distract us and divide us. We can allow that to happen or we can recognize these schemes and choose to stand united in freedom and liberty. 

There are two issues right now that worry me greatly. Both are using a lot of shame tactics. The first idea is that if you don't wear a mask that you don't care about people. Yes I am wearing a mask because it's been mandated and we all have to pick our battles. I'm done fighting this one. Personally I think that mandating this is wrong. Recently I heard of a woman who was sexually assulted and had her mouth covered. Wearing a mask sends her into a panic attack. I've heard of 3 others who struggle with wearing a mask because they are claustrophobic. Today I saw a woman in tears because she went to pick up a prescription and was told she needed to be wearing a mask that she did not have or know that she needed to have. Yet we are mandating that people must wear a mask? At what cost?

There are a number of reasons people choose not to wear a mask. I'm not telling anyone to wear or mask or not to wear one. I think that when it comes to masks or really anything that we don't agree on we can be a little more understanding that everyone has their reason even if they don't make sense to us. Shaming someone for their choices creates a divisiveness that brings us all down. The only person we can control is ourselves and that is where we should focus our attention.

The second item that worries me is that of race. Now I want to be very clear that I hope and pray that we all will be vigilant in supporting the changes that are neccesary. We are not all going to agree on what those changes should be. We need to talk civily about those changes and come to a worthwhile solution. I believe one of those changes involves more training for officers and swift action when officers are found to be out of line. Defunding the police is not the answer.

Some of that change has got to come from within the minority communities themselves. The other day I saw an article that Travon Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, is running for county comissioner in her county in Florida. Travon Martin was killed in 2012 by a neighborhood watch member. Sybrina saw the need for change and decided to run for office. In the case of Travon it was the community needing to take policing matters into their own hands that created the problem. If you defund the police you will see more vigilantes with zero training trying to police their communities. I feel that could be a recipe for disaster if we aren't careful. 

Virginia Satir said, "The family is a microcosm of the world. To understand the world we can study the family: issues such as power, intimacy, autonomy, trust, and communication skills are vital parts underlying how we live in the world. To Change the world is to change the family." The best change we can make starts within our own homes and then moves out into our communities and then our counties, states, nation and then the world. We must examine ourselves and what we can do personally to be better. 

This is how it has been done throughout our nations history. Good people do their best to become better and then the next generation does their best. Pretty soon those positive changes give hope to a new generation. None of us are perfect but we can strive each and every day to be better than we were the day before. That is how our ancestors built a nation and that is how we sustain it. 

We have a lot of work to do in this country. Our challenges can be overcome as we come together, listen to one another, and search for the solutions to these problems. Most people do care about others. Even more important Christ cares. Jesus Christ loved us enough to save us from our sins. Because of Jesus Christ I am here and the biggest differences I can make is only with his help. We are here to bless the lives of others just as Christ did. We can do this! We can overcome the challenges we face. First we need to put down our weapons and stop pointing fingers.

It is through ONE NATION under God, INDIVISIBLE, with LIBERTY and JUSTICE FOR ALL" that we will be able to overcome these problems and become the country that God means for us to be!