WHEN I AM ASKED . . .

SOMETIMES WHEN PEOPLE ASK ME WHY I SERVED OUR COUNTRY AS A US MILITARY OFFICER . . .  I tell them what it was like to hear about World War II when I was a child, and to see the photos of my uncles in their service uniforms on our grandmothers’ dressers in their bedrooms.  I explain that as little children we collected pennnies for UNICEF and dimes for the March of Dimes. We were encouraged to eat everything that we were blessed to have on our plates because there were still little children starving in Europe and in Asia and in Africa and in the Western Hemisphere — and very sadly, in our nation, also, especially amongst our minorities and indigenous peoples.

I tell them that as a Baby Boomer, we were the grandchildren and children of our citizens who in many cases had recently come to America for the freedom and opportunities they wanted for us and for themselves. They often had suffered and sacrificed great deal in the Depression and during the war, but they had gathered themselves together and worked the best they could for their families, their neighbors, their local communities, their states and our nation.

I was raised to be aware of the blessings of freedom; of the responsibilities that came with the rights and privileges we shared with each member of our nation and with each stranger and guest. I was raised to believe that service, sacrifice, honor, privilege and respect for our ideals as Americans were part of the sacred trust our Founders—men and women—had passed down to us.

There is no higher privilege than to serve God in whatever way anyone may conceive th Divine, true to a person’s culture, history, ethnic background, mind and heart. From that point, we serve our family members and our neighbors by serving our nation.

That patriotic service is grounded in duty and honor, but not (for the most part) required. So I always feel blessed to have volunteered and been accepted as an officer of the US Military serving my country. I learned how to do it through the examples and encouragement of my family members; my pastors and church family members; my teachers and the staff members of my schools; our neighbors and our friends show included Brownie and Girl Scout leaders and 4-H leaders.

I thank and bless God for all of them and for the blessings that God has bestowed on our nation.  We were not given all we have to hoard it, but to use it to help and serve others. 

I pray that with God’s help we will be able to return to the Lord and let God know that we are here as His servants to do whatever the Lord has for us to do with the help of the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus.

May God bless America and may we all bless and thank God for any and every opportunity we have to do that with the Lord’s help.

In Jesus’ Holy Name I pray. Alleluia! Amen and amen.