It Is NOT July 4th
This is scheduled to post on the date that our nation’s first vice-president and second president wrote a letter to his wife. Included in that letter was a prediction about how John Adams thought our nation’s independence from England would be celebrated.
I am apt to believe that [Independence Day] will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.
So – tomorrow, there will, indeed, be all sorts of national, community, and family celebrations of one kind or another. The only problem with that, is that the date that John Adams had in mind was not July 4th, but July 2nd. The Second Continental Congress voted to declare the independence of the Colonies on July 2, 1776. The document was approved and sent to the printer on July 4th. Mr. Adams was looking forward in the sense that he predicted all of those celebrations, but he was looking back to the day before he wrote the letter.
While I was thinking about this, I thought of a couple of applications suggested in the title I have chosen. Obviously, the title suggests that we may be “off” on the timing of our annual celebration.
While that is true, I am much more concerned about how many people view that date and even what it is called. It seems to me that July 4th is just another day off from work. Maybe this year, people can figure out a way (or be given permission) to have a four-day weekend instead of “merely” a three-day weekend like many national holidays have become. For some, it may be an opportunity to attend a sporting event, have a picnic, spend time on the lake, play golf, and/or generally just spend time with family and friends.
All of that is why I try (although I’m not always successful) to not call our national holiday July 4th. I try to remember to call it what it really is – Independence Day.
That one seemingly small change in my vocabulary helps me to remember those men who chose to end the actual document that was adopted and sent to the printer with these words:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
That change in my vocabulary also helps me to remember what so many of these men actually did lose. You might want to do some research about that. Those were not empty words.
Trying to be careful about my vocabulary also helps me remember the price that so many have paid in order to preserve our independence and freedom. Some, of course, lost their lives in order to secure and/or maintain those things. Others “never were quite the same” physically, mentally, emotionally, or some combination of all of those things after serving in one of the armed forces of our nation.
As I type these words, I honestly do not know what my plans are for July 4th. I do know, however, that my plans will include bowing my head and thanking God for “…the protection of divine Providence…” I plan to also ask Him to continue that protection and to help me do what I can in order to encourage others to see the need of all people to have a relationship with Him.
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. (Prov. 13:34)
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
