Weekend Wisdom

Weekend Wisdom: Charity vs Investment

Today’s quote comes from a new book I am reading – The Conservative Heart by Arthur C. Brooks.

It is an absolutely wonderful quote and the truth. In order for poor people to rise about their circumstances, the rest of us need to invest time and energy into helping them. There are numerous ways you can help poor folks and I will leave it to you to use your imagination and figure out how to invest in the poor.

Bio: Michele Kearns is the founder and HUG© (Hope Unites Globally) Award-Winner of JoyReturns. She shares her widowhood adventures hoping to inspire widows to move through grief and rebuild their lives. A graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor’s degree in communications, she’s currently using those skills as a virtual logistics contact center representative for a Fortune 100 company. She’s also managed call center teams, co-facilitated a grief support group, and helped small businesses with various writing assignments. Michele is a bookworm, and a lover of history, music, chocolate, red roses, and golden retrievers. She is also the amateur photographer behind the blog OgleOhio.com

I Believe In You

Dear America – I. Believe. In. You.

This post is part of the I.Believe. In. You. series where I write about things I believe in. (Readers, God, Jesus, and Santa)

The inspiration for this post comes from:

  • watching 4 hours of angry Democrats saying “This Country Sucks!” (Those are not there exact words but they easily could have been.)
  • Rush Limbaugh’s recent rant about how the left is anti-American and wants to rip this country to shreds. (I take my cell phone and sit on the deck or the front steps and listen to the replay on the app after work.)

Dear America,

I. Believe. In. You.

Galveston Bay

Despite being made up of flawed humans, you are the most unique and exceptional country on earth.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:23

There is no other country like you. God has richly blessed you.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

Psalm 33:12
ESV

Your founding was a political event but it brings out the patriotism in all citizens.

I believe the founding fathers knew what they were doing when they wrote your Declaration of Independence and Constitution, which are not out of date.

I also believe they knew what they were doing when they set up the Electoral College so the voice of us citizens in fly-over country would be heard. (Hmmm..not sure Ohio counts as fly-over country.)

I believe in the faith the founding fathers had and lived.

Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.

Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.

Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.

Psalm 35:1-3
KJV
Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience To God; The Roll of Christianity in the American Revolution
Daniel S. Stackhouse, Jr./ PH.D.

I believe the prayers they prayed for you at the founding are still being answered by God today.

…look down in mercy, we beseech Thee, on these our American States, who have fled to Thee from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only on Thee. To Thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause; to Thee do they now look up for that countenance and support, which Thou alone canst give.

Reverend Jacob Duché
Rector of Christ Church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
September 7, 1774, 9 o’clock a.m.
First Prayer of the Continental Congress, 1774
Office of the Chaplain, United States House of Representatives

Opportunity Works

You are the land of opportunity for those who are willing to work for it, those who understand that you get what you get only when you are bold enough go for it.

A land where anything is possible, where anyone can be elected President not just some career politician in Washington D. C. who is out of touch with the reality of his constituent’s everyday life.

You are a land who welcomes immigrants seeking a better life and believe America is the best place to build that life. People like my great, great grandfather Augustus who immigrated from Germany through the port of Baltimore, Maryland.

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

Theodore Roosevelt
President of the United States of America
1901 -1909

You are made up of unique and exceptional people who get up and live their ordinary lives every day because they know:

Faithfully showing up in the seemly mundane ordinary IS EXTRAORDINARY.

Kaitlyn Bouchillon

We The People

Just as the church consists of people and not a building, you too, America are made up of people young and old, rich and poor, the employed and the unemployed, the fat and happy and the skinny and miserable.

People whose careers are:

  • trash men
  • waitresses
  • politicians
  • bus drivers
  • contractors
  • seamstresses
  • dairy farmers
  • talk show hosts
  • gas station clerks
  • call center representatives
  • stay at home moms and dads
  • butchers, bakers and candlestick makers

It takes all these people and so many more to make and keep this country the greatest one on earth.

Either Chiniak or Kodiak, AK 1952
Taken by my father while he was in the Navy.

I. Believe. In. You., America!

Therefore, I commit to pray for you at 7:14 a.m. and 7:14 p.m. every day in hopes that God will answer all my prayers for you now and for centuries to come.

14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14
English Standard Version (ESV)

Betsy Ross Flag / Wikipedia

Disclaimer: All links are non-affiliate.

Bio: Michele Kearns is the founder and HUG© (Hope Unites Globally) Award-Winner of JoyReturns. She shares her widowhood adventures hoping to encourage widows to move through grief and rebuild their lives. A graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor’s degree in communications, she’s used those skills while managing call center teams, co-facilitating a grief support group, and helping small businesses with various writing and administrative assignments. Michele is a bookworm, and a lover of history, chocolate, red roses, and golden retrievers. She is also the amateur photographer behind the blog OgleOhio.com