America the Beautiful

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance." Psalm 33:12

I was 18 when I arrived in the United States of America for the first time. As soon as I crossed the border everything changed. Freeways were wider. Streets had name signs at every corner. Most people followed traffic laws. Even the air in the city was cleaner. When I entered Kmart, I was blown away by how neatly organized everything was and how there was a huge variety of anything. When I tried Quaker Granola for the first time, I thought I was in heaven! So delicious! My older brother got me a job polishing metal parts at a factory. I couldn't believe how much money I was making every week, more than I had ever made in my life.

I was so happy to see my family again after so many years! My grandmother, aunts, uncles, my brother and his beautiful wife, cousins, and nephews. I even was able to meet relatives I didn't know of. My parents, siblings, and I had been away from relatives for a long time, so it was a blessing for me to meet them again.

Everything was so good about this country, but the concept of freedom was what I came to love and appreciate the most, especially religious freedom. I noticed with special interest at how many Christian churches there were everywhere.

Back in my country of origin I was mocked for being different, for belonging to a minority religion. Although I didn't suffer any physical pain, many of my brothers and sisters in Christ were persecuted for their faith. My father, being a pastor, told us the unfortunate event that took place up in the mountains in the south part of the country. An elderly sister who was recently converted, who my dad had baptized, was confronted by the village leaders about her faith. When she stood strong and refused to renounce her new faith, she was dragged by her hair across town to make an example to everybody.

I love my native land. I love my "paisanos", the beautiful people from my native country. But it hurts me that back then there was so much prejudice against a Christian minority religion. In the USA, I was not afraid of carrying my Bible to church, of being singled out as fanatical.

I could talk at lengths about the first time I entered a Christian store and found so many books, especially piano arrangements of hymns books, but that's a story for another time.

I love the United States of America because this great country and her beautiful citizens gave me opportunities impossible to find in my native country. January 29, 1998 is a date I will never forget. That's when I became a US Citizen and received a little flag that I proudly took with me. A flag that symbolized all the goodness of this country that I had found and experienced.

I give thanks to God for my adopted country, my country! And I will proudly defend her honor, her dignity, and her sovereignty.

America the Beautiful

1
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.

2
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thorough-fare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self control,
Thy liberty in law.

3
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.

4
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees, beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.

Words by Katherine Lee Bates