All is Well

At this moment I sit in a comfortable porch chair looking out across the very meadows described in the poem below. The late afternoon sun is drifting towards the nearby mountaintops, yet still offers plenty of light to paint the world a radiant autumn gold. This is perhaps my favorite time of the day, when all of nature seems most eager and alive. The wonder of an Indian summer clings doggedly to the hills and valleys, bracing against each evening’s frost and striving every afternoon to stand its ground. The bugs and the birds still sing their merry songs as the grasses dance in the last of the warm September sunlight. While they know that this time must end and give way to the cold of winter there is still a feeling of hope pulsing through all such valleys as this. I am reminded just now of our own spiritual condition. We live all our lives with the winter of death just around the corner. However, those who have a saving faith in Jesus Christ can live cheerfully in the hope of a springtime of resurrection. We have no fear of death because we understand the seasons of our lives and the promise of a better life yet to come. Thus, we can look out across our own meadows, wherever we may dwell, and say as I have this late afternoon, “All is well.”

All is Well
Almost dusk in Genesee Valley
With barely a whisper of breeze
The autumn sun is nearly gone
As it slants through the western trees
A trickle of water near at hand
Dances merrily on its way
Somewhere the cry of a blue jay
Squawks his farewell to the day
I can just make out the distant song
Which rises from Grizzly Creek
Unheeded by a pair of squirrels
Busy with games of hide and seek
Before me a meadow of harvest gold
Behind me a veil of cedar and pine
About me peacefulness is draped
Embracing me in the divine
I hardly dare to speak or breathe
For fear I’ll break the spell
Which quiets my heart and stirs my soul
It is evening, and all is well
By Frank Carpenter ©

Gems

We live in a world obsessed with movie stars and shiny cars and outward appearances. Let's face it, no matter what we say we are all too concerned with external beauty. To make matters worse, the ever ubiquitous media constantly bombards us with supposedly ideal images which encourage folks to accept clearly unrealistic expectations as the "norm" in many areas of our lives. We're told that real men and women should look like this and cars and houses and clothing should look like that. Then before we know it, we end up with a whole society suffering from an inferiority complex. In point of fact, however, external beauty does not make people happier. It doesn't make their marriages last longer. Nor does it prevent them from having eating disorders, overdosing on drugs or committing suicide. Indeed, if Hollywood or the world of overpaid professional athletes is any indicator, the effect of physical perfection and opulent living may be just the opposite. It sounds cliché, but real beauty is actually to be found on the inside. A beautiful heart and soul are what endear us to others in the long run. Those are the qualities that don't age or wear out. And in the end, those are the traits which endear us to God as well. Let us, therefore, be careful of our judgment based upon external beauty, which has a tendency to blind us to many of the more important traits in our fellow human beings. Worse yet, we are our own worst critics and often judge ourselves even more harshly than others. Yet, we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves for the mirror is a cruel friend and knows nothing of one’s heart or character. Many an amazing person appears as a diamond in the rough and wise is the man or woman who looks to the true gems hidden within ... where real and lasting beauty may be discovered by those who seek it.

Gems
In each of us there is a light
A spark divine and true
Trapped within our selfish lives
Just waiting to shine through
Like the priceless diamond hidden in
The stone beneath the earth
Which needs the miner and the cutter
To orchestrate it's birth
So it is with inner beauty
It lies waiting deep within
Like the diamond it stays trapped
Beneath our selfishness and sin
And no amount of exercise
Or cash or seminars
Can pierce the veil or change
The person who we really are
Real beauty can't be painted on
Or purchased or injected
And all our vain attempts, alas
Are lost and misdirected
For only God, who made us
Holds the power to unearth
The priceless gem within each soul
Waiting patiently for rebirth
But like a master diamond cutter
God takes each heart in the rough
Transforming it into a flawless gem
For He alone cares enough
To see the potential of our lives
In the light of eternity
God sees the masterpiece in each heart
And knows how to set it free
And once God uncovers the gems in us
We humbly realize
That the inner beauty was always there
God's love simply opened our eyes
By Frank Carpenter ©

The Star Spangled Banner

Today, a little glimpse back at an important moment in American history. The day was September 13, 1814 … 191 years ago today. Great Britain wasn’t always our staunchest ally and, at the time, America was locked in the war of 1812 with our now beloved parent country. During that long night, as the British fleet bombarded Fort McHenry during the battle of Baltimore, 35 year old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key observed from a small ship offshore. He had sailed out to the British fleet to negotiate the release of American prisoners and, from his vantage point, the disposition of the American fort and the outcome of the battle seemed unclear until morning light showed that the Stars and Stripes were still flying. The events of that night inspired him to pen the now famous words of the Star Spangled Banner. His thoughts were, “Then, in that hour of deliverance, my heart spoke. Does not such a country, and such defenders of their country, deserve a song?” In fact, he wrote the lyrics in meter to match, “To Anacreon in Heaven,” a popular song of English origin.

The song gained popularity throughout the 19th century. On July 26, 1889, Secretary of the Navy B F Tracy signed General Order No 374 making "The Star-Spangled Banner" the official tune to be played at the raising of the flag. In 1916, Woodrow Wilson ordered that "The Star-Spangled Banner" be played at military and other appropriate occasions. Two years later, in 1918, the song was first played at a baseball game; in the World Series, the band started an impromptu performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the seventh-inning stretch. The players and spectators stood at attention, took off their hats, and sang, giving rise to a tradition that is repeated at almost every professional baseball game in United States today, though it is now performed prior to the first pitch. Eventually, a concerted public relations effort was made to make the song the country's national anthem (there had until that time been no official anthem). In 1931, John Philip Sousa published his opinion in favor, stating that "it is the spirit of the music that inspires" as much as it is Key's "soul-stirring" words. By Congressional resolution signed by President Herbert Hoover, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as the national anthem of the United States on March 3, 1931.

Well, that’s the story of the Star Spangled Banner and how it came into being, 191 years ago today. I encourage you to read over all four verses, which I have pasted below, and share them with others. In this world of complicated international relations, partisan politics and natural disasters, sometimes we simply need to pause and read some inspiring words from our rich patriotic heritage. In closing, all I can say is, “long may it wave!”

The Star Spangled Banner
Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
By Francis Scott Key (1779-1843)

September 11 Again

Well, here we are at September 11 again. It has now been four years since that fateful morning when the terrorist attacks on America changed the course of modern world history. I actually wrote about this subject recently, but after viewing some of those frightening images on television again this afternoon I felt compelled to comment once again. We, as a nation, had become complacent during the previous decade, but September 11 awoke something within our national spirit which put us clearly on the offensive in the war against international terrorism. Although the path ahead remains unclear, we remain on the offensive … as I believe we must. Terrorism has been on the rise in recent decades, primarily from violent Islamic fundamentalist groups. When they brought it home to us in New York, Washington and Virginia, they made it a real and more tangible war. Now we mustn’t give in, we must not back down. A sleeping giant truly has been awakened, such as the world had not known since WWII, and we can only hope that our leaders will have the wisdom and fortitude to continue the battle until we achieve a clear victory. May God bless America and watch over our men and women in uniform.

The Heart of Freedom
Beware, you foes of freedom
Who dare to maim and kill
Who, by force, would stand against us
You have galvanized our will
You have struck the heart of freedom
Spilled sacred blood upon our soil
Stung the bastions of democracy
Yet, though we may recoil
Be it known, we shall not falter
In the midst of travesty
A sleeping giant has awakened
Which will rise from the debris
With a resolve and with a fury
Such as you have rarely known
Freedom’s mettle has been tested
And now its true strength shall be shown
By Frank Carpenter ©