Wishing You a Safe, Blessed, and Happy Fourth of July!

The Fourth of July is the great summer holiday when families come together to enjoy cook-outs, patriotic music, fireworks, and all that has traditionally accompanied our nation’s birthday celebration.

Communities throughout South Carolina will sponsor an array of parades, festivals, and concerts, many culminating with extraordinary firework displays. These great events will be part of the best memories our children will carry through their lives. That is why I would like to suggest that among all the happy events of the day, families pause to realize that this day also represents the extraordinary faith, courage, and dedication of our nation’s founding fathers.

One good way to discern the character of perhaps our most noted founding father is to consider George Washington’s “Earnest Prayer.” The great General, facing military retirement at the close of the Revolutionary War, was in Newburgh, New York on June 14, 1783, when he released a “Circular Letter Addressed to the Governors of all the States on the Disbanding Army.” General Washington wrote in his letter:

“I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in His holy protection; that He would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for brethren who have served in the field; and finally that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.”

In these times, no less than in Washington’s time, our nation needs such a spirit of service and dedication. And none should question that it especially needs his “earnest prayer.”

We wish you and yours a safe, blessed, and happy Fourth of July!