Today is Memorial Day, when we remember those who gave their lives in service to this country. May God bless their families, now and always!

And may we never forget: the freedoms we enjoy – especially the freedom to worship as we believe the Bible commands – are not free! They have been paid for by the blood of so many who loved this nation more than their own lives.

In honor of this Day, I thought instead of the normal devotion, I would share with you the words of Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote the lyrics to “America the Beautiful” after a trip to Pike’s Peak in 1893. Truly God has blessed our nation, and my prayer is that we will turn back to Him so that He will bless us again!

America the Beautiful

by Katherine Lee Bates

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!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet, Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!

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 every gain divine!

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!