God Mend Thine Every Flaw

I was planning on waxing writerly this morning, but my flag waving heart won’t let me pass up the 4th of July without a small salute.

I love America. I love being American. There’s no place like it on earth. I don’t know what I did to deserve to live here, but I will be eternally grateful for the privilege.

We have our share of problems, but they are all first class. We have our share of turmoil. We have our share of conflict. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone thinks they’re right.

My Dad often said “When I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you.” He said it mostly to be funny, but there’s a grain of truth in his quip. I think everyone should think like me. You think everyone should think like you. It’s hard to be humble, when you know you’re right.

It isn’t easy to find harmony among diversity, yet diversity is one of our strengths.

In church we recently sang America the Beautiful. Don’t you love that song? God mend thine every flaw. I had never really noticed those powerful words before. I loved the feel of them in my mouth and I loved the sound of them in the air. They gave me hope.

We do have flaws. Lots of flaws. As long as people are in charge there will be flaws. Someday God will take charge and there will be no flaws. For now, though, I love this thought, and maybe it should be a prayer.

America, America, God mend thine every flaw.

Hope is a beatiful thing.

Linda Garner