Thankful

Happy Friday,

How are you all doing on this wonderful, hot and sticky Friday afternoon? All is well here. How was your 4th of July? Were you able to celebrate with family and friends, or maybe just hang out and watch the sky light up? Shoot me a text or drop me a comment, I’d love to hear how you all celebrated, and if you didn’t or don’t celebrate the 4th, that’s okay too. I hope you had a wonderful day.

I had the best 4th of July ever. My sis Jeannie got us a campsite at our community campground and holy heck, was it the best spot and the best of times being with framily. John and I had 2 of the 4 boys here with us yesterday and that made the day a little extra special.

Yesterday was the 4th of July, Independence Day and it meant so much to me to be able to for the first time, dress up in all stars and stripes and celebrate a holiday that means so much to so many people. The 4th of July was my daddy’s favorite holiday and of course, my brothers love the 4th of July too.

Yesterday I was able to fully embrace what freedom means to me. While Independence Day is the annual celebration of nationhood, July 4th marks an even bigger milestone in my own personal life.

Independence Day is celebrated in the United States and it commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4th 1776. For me, Independence Day signifies my freedom from having lived my life in a cult, being cut off from the world and not being able to show my pride in this country in which I live.

The fireworks that are lit off and have been launched every year since the very first celebration of Independence Day way back in 1777, are the icing on the cake for me. You see, the fireworks signify national pride and patriotism, but for me, they signify excitement and incredible light in my life.

Way back in the 12th century, China used fireworks to celebrate national triumphs, the restoration of peace and from the 15th century forward, the European monarchs launched them to celebrate their own birthdays.

Watching those fireworks being shot into the sky with patriotic music playing in the background, I was blown away being able to just immerse myself in the pride I have for my country and the pride I feel for being free. I love my country and though we are in the midst of some hiccups, I still love it.

Knowing the meaning of the fireworks, I held tight to their significance. Pride and Patriotism were definitely at their finest yesterday. Being able to openly celebrate a holiday that the cult I escaped from hates, well, I was filled with pride for this country and for being able to escape the falsehood of being required to stay separate from the world and the mindset that the flag and our country were not a part of God’s arrangement for his world.

I was taught that saluting the flag was a form of idolatry. If I were to salute the flag I would be in a sense, worshiping something or someone other than the religions God, Jehovah. I was taught that I had to remain neutral when it came to anything political because God was the only thing to be worshiped.

I don’t feel saluting the flag is worshiping it. I feel it’s showing respect for what it stands for. Freedom.

According to JW.org, “Historical evidence indicates that the first Christians did not involve themselves in political affairs. As Jesus said of them: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.” (John 17:16) Rather, they shared a common allegiance to a heavenly government, God’s Kingdom. New York educators Eugene A. Colligan and Maxwell F. Littwin said regarding them in the book From the Old World to the New: “They preferred the Kingdom of God to any kingdom that they might serve on earth.”

The article on JW. org continues to say , “Even though we do not salute the flag of any nation, this certainly is not meant to indicate disrespect. We do respect the flag of whatever country we live in, and we show this respect by obedience to the country’s laws. We never engage in antigovernment activity of any kind. In fact, we believe that present human governments constitute an “arrangement of God” that he has temporarily permitted to exist. So we consider ourselves under divine command to pay taxes, tribute and honor to such “superior authorities.”​—Romans 13:1-7.

‘But why, then,’ you may ask, ‘do you not honor the flag by saluting it?’ It is because we view the flag salute as an act of worship. Although we do not discourage others from saluting the flag, we cannot conscientiously give what we view as worship to anyone or anything except our God, Jehovah. (Matthew 4:10) Of course, many people do not consider the flag sacred or that saluting it is an act of worship. However, consider what secular authorities say about this:

“The flag, like the cross, is sacred. . . . The rules and regulations relative to human attitude toward national standards use strong, expressive words, as, ‘Service to the Flag,’ . . . ‘Reverence for the Flag,’ ‘Devotion to the Flag.’”​—The Encyclopedia Americana (1942), Volume 11, page 316.”

Source of information I copied and pasted directly from the JW. org website- (https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/School-and-Jehovahs-Witnesses/Flag-Salute-Anthems-and-Voting/).

When I was a child and I was not allowed to salute the flag. Even as a child I felt out of place not saluting the flag. I felt like I was being disrespectful for not saying the pledge of allegiance. I always felt a pull towards our military and I was always grateful for those who served and for those that served and never made it home.

I struggled quite a bit as a kid growing up in a cult. We can talk more about that later in another blog.

Today, I stand proudly. I salute the flag of this country in which I live and I don’t feel like I’m taking away anything from my relationship with God. I feel he still loves me. I feel he supports me.

I certainly don’t have all the answers when it comes to the hatred between countries and right now, learning about all the other countries outside of the US isn’t in my near future, not because I want to take the lazy way out and not learn, it’s simply because right now, my brain won’t be able to retain those sort of deep topics. One day though, I’ll study and learn about the significance of all the flags and countries around the world. I suppose I should have taken World History more serious.

Anyway, yesterday, marked my freedom into this world, this life and into being able to fully immerse myself in what I truly believe in.

I’m not here to debate politics of any sorts, what I am here to do is to encourage everyone to love life and be the best version of ourselves. We are so unique, yet we all have one thing undeniably in common, we’re human.

Independence Day has allowed me to express myself openly and honestly here on this blog and in my life. While July 4th signifies pride and patriotism, for me it also signifies my own freedom, my own pride in not only my country, but in being allowed to be free from a cult mindset I didn’t believe in.

As I sit here finishing up today’s blog, I am reminded of how thankful I am to be able to write openly and honestly to all of you. I am thankful for the life I have, for my children, for John and for my framily (friends, family and those that are both, framily) here in the lake. I am thankful too for my own family, my brothers, my nieces and nephews, my cousins, my Aunt Billie and for John’s family. I am thankful for my home and I’m thankful for each and everyone of you.

I am thankful for so much and though I lose site of that from time to time, it’s days like yesterday, morning like today that I am kindly reminded of all the things I am thankful for.

John just finished work, put his swimsuit on and headed out onto our patio to enjoy his new mister fan. I am beyond grateful that he is immersing himself in lake life too. He’s always been a wonderful man and now that he’s here in the lake, he’s different. He has a sense of calm and gratitude for life to even a higher degree then he had before.

John has his hat on, his swimsuit on, his cooling towel wrapped around his neck and he’s sitting outside watching the boats go by, having his mister fan cooling him and just embracing his best life. My heart skipped a beat thinking of his happiness. I sure do love him.

Thank you Mina and Big John for raising an incredible son and for letting me love him. Thank you for supporting his move to the lake. I know he misses being near you, but I promise, he’s happy here too. Hugs.

Ladies and gentleman, my dear readers, thank you for reading today’s blog and I hope you have the best of Fridays and weekends. As always, please drop me a comment and hit the like button and if you haven’t subscribed yet, please do so. Thank you again for reading and until next time, don’t forget, Love Life++ Hugs.