I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and thanksgivings be made for all people.
—1 Timothy 2:1
I always grow a bit nostalgic on Thanksgiving. I remember childhood school days when we stood, hands over hearts, and sang songs of patriotism.
Today, I am thinking of the words of Katharine Lee Bates’ poem America the Beautiful, which first appeared in print on July 4, 1895.
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
God bless America.