About 200 yards away just across a busy traffic artery there stands a flag pole with a giant American flag raised to the top.   The morning blue sky perfectly mats the red, white and blue.  Cars scoot easily by at this time of day thanks to the freedom of movement we enjoy in this country.

The flag’s upper left corner holds a white star for each state of our union against a navy blue background.  Six white stripes horizontally placed evenly between seven red ones fill the rest of it.  The thirteen stripes correspond to the 13 original colonies that began our nation.  As I try to remember their meaning, the red recalls the blood of protectors shed to preserve our freedom;  the white purity.  May our motives as a nation always be pure!

The wind flows strongly past the flag making it wave ever so proudly.  It’s a grand old flag.

If I travel to another land, this flag welcomes me home.

The flag is only material sewed into a pattern.  The sacrifices and founding principles of our country give it meaning.  May our actions as a nation always be guided by liberty and justice for all.

What thoughts do you have to share on this 4th of July, 2013?  Today I shared breakfast with family, returned and prepared for company, all in a free land.    There is no right way to celebrate freedom and independence, each American is free to celebrate as he chooses so long as he does not interfere with another.  My prayers go to the people of Egypt today.   May their struggles bring forth a new nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” (excerpt from the Gettysburg Address)