Out of the Mouths of Babes...

My three-year-old was playing school and had her dolls lined up.

"I pledge allegience to the miracle flag of the United States of America."

Those are the exact words.

I hear a lot of people complaining about our country.  They don't like this or that or the other.  I don't think they really know what a "miracle flag" we have.

No, there's no patriotic holiday.  Just this single event gets me thinking.

I have a friend who was raised in Liberia.  He can tell you what an extraordinary country this is.  He can tell you what a miracle this country is.  His entire family was killed by rebels who used machetes in the most cruel and horrific ways you can imagine.  He can't go home, there's not one to go to.

My friend knows that we are a whiney people.  We have more freedom, more opportunity, more justice, more compassion, more wealth than any other country in the world.  Our most impoverished citizens would be considered wealthy by about 60% of the world's population.  Yet we complain more than any other about our conditions.

We are a miracle.  We should get down on our knees everyday and thank God that we live where we do.  Car broke down?  Be glad you don't have to sleep in it.  Sleeping in your car?  Be glad you have one to sleep in.  You could be living in a hut waiting for some vile, evil person to burst into your home and hack you to death or worse, make you watch while they abuse your family and the kill them before they kill you.

I pledge allegience to the miracle flag...

Yes, I do.  And if you don't, you should be ashamed, for you live in the greatest place on earth.  If you can read this, you have internet access and therefore have more opportunity and freedom than anywhere else on earth.

Thank you, God, for that miracle flag.

Thanks for reading.