Happy Fourth of July!

I like everything that goes along with celebrating the Fourth of July: parades, ward breakfasts, swimming, barbeques, and fireworks. But I feel very blessed for the freedoms we celebrate and humbled by those men who helped form our nation and secure these freedoms.

"It must be remembered that the Founding Fathers of the United States of America were men imbued with these basic principles {the Ten Commandments}. It is a part of my faith that these were “wise men whom [God] raised up” for the purpose of establishing the Constitution of the United States. They recognized that there are two possible sources to the origin of the freedoms we have come to know as human rights. Rights are either God-given as part of a divine plan, or they are granted as part of the political plan. Reason, necessity, and religious conviction and belief in the sovereignty of God led these men to accept the divine origin of these rights. To God’s glory, and the credit of these men, this nation was uniquely born.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” (Declaration of Independence.)"
Ezra Taft Benson, America at the Crossroads, New Era, July 1978

It is actually a great article about America and poignant considering the election in the coming year. I believe the men who formed our country were divinely guided and I'm am grateful for our Heavenly Father's hand in its preparation. Have a great Fourth of July!

Keep smiling and remember to be happy.