Warning: Patriotic Post

July 4th, Independence Day. We celebrate America, our independence from any other nation, our greatness, and our precious freedom. I wish our celebration would bring to our minds all those blessings we have enjoyed all our lives.

I am an American. I love this country, and I humbly proclaim I belong to America. My ancestors—on both my father’s and mother’s side of the family—gave up their homes, all they had, all they knew in their native England and Denmark to come to here. They had joined a new church and were gathering in America, where they knew they could worship freely.

My mother’s people sailed from Denmark on a ship called The Westmoreland, and once in this country they walked most of the way to the Salt Lake valley. My father’s people sailed from Liverpool, England, in an old vessel and had to bail water all the way across the Atlantic, the voyage lasting six long weeks. They passed through Ellis Island and eventually took a train from New York to Omaha and walked the rest of the way to “Zion” to begin to build their lives anew. Their first home was made of mud. They never regretted the sacrifice.

Today I live in freedom, comfortable and safe in my own home, not made of mud, blessed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and by His church, blessed by the strength of my own ancestors and by the sacrifice of patriots who truly loved liberty more than their lives. I owe everything to my fathers and mothers and to the fathers and mothers of this country.

I say this week is a good time to look back to my own history, to remember, and then look forward and renew my commitment to live truly, faithfully, and to honor the heritage I so fortunately possess.