America is another name for opportunity.  Our whole history appears like a last effort of divine providence on behalf of the human race. 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’m so grateful that I am an American.  I’m grateful to live in a country where I am free. 

I can worship how I want to, I can wear what I want to, I can vote.  I can speak my mind.  I can read what I want to.  I can write a blog. Sometimes I take these freedoms for granted.  Often, it takes a newspaper article or a book about another culture to realize how different it is for us here, what a difference liberty makes. 

In America, there is opportunity.  There is possibility.   Dreams come true.  There are no limits.  Hope is alive.  

This weekend, we celebrate America.  We celebrate our beginning and our history and our successes.  We celebrate our strength and our compassion.  We celebrate our inventiveness and our intelligence.  We celebrate our growth and our tenacity. 

 Here’s something I know for sure…I would never want to live anywhere but America.  I am proud and I am free and sometimes I’m brave.  But when I hear those words sung at a baseball game, I’m all tears. 

This weekend, when you hear those words, stand up, take your hat off, put your hand on your heart and listen.  When the song is over, take a minute to thank God you are an American.  We are blessed!