For God and My Country

Summer is unofficially here. Memorial weekend symbolically represents the opening of summer. It is a time when families begin their camping trips, barbecues, reunions, and a host of other things. It is a three-day weekend set aside for rest, relaxation, and play. It is a weekend of no cares and no worries. Whom can we thank for this weekend? We can offer our thanks to those who gave us the real reason for this weekend. Those who gave their lives for the freedoms we hold today: The American soldier.
Memorial Day was established as a day of mourning for those who fought and died in the Civil War. Soldiers that did not want to see America torn asunder. These soldiers gave their lives trying to keep America as one nation.
As the Civil War soldiers fought to preserve the nation, another set of soldiers fought to establish a nation. These are the soldiers of the Revolutionary War. They were led in force by General George Washington.
George Washington is known as “the Father of our Nation.” He led a vastly outnumbered and outmatched upstart army to victory over the mighty British forces. He was a good tactician who knew where and when to strike. It was through his military accomplishments and his leadership that led him to be the near unanimous choice to be the first leader of this young nation.
What is not so well known, or taught, were his strong Christian convictions. George Washington was a man of deep and strong convictions. He prayed daily for hours at a time in his library. His private journals referred to God, Christ, and his own prayer life. While he was leading armies to victory and establishing a nation, he also helps establish a church.
It is not a new concept to question George Washington’s beliefs. In the 1830’s a gentleman, Jared Sparks, was compiling a biography on George Washington. Trying to find out if Washington was a Christian or not, he sent a letter to Martha Washington’s granddaughter, Nelly Custis-Lewis, asking about his faith.
Nelly, because of the death of her father, Martha’s son, she was raised in the White House while Washington was President. She lived with the Washington’s all of her childhood. She was a little surprised that someone would question her step-grandfathers beliefs. In her letter she wrote, “I should have thought it the greatest heresy to doubt his firm belief in Christianity. His life, his writings, prove that he was a Christian. He was not one of those who act or pray, ‘that they may be seen of men’ [Matthew 6:5]. He communed with his God in secret [Matthew 6:6].”
She continued in her letter, “Is it necessary that any one should certify, ‘General Washington avowed himself to me a believer in Christianity?’ As well may we question his patriotism, his heroic, disinterested devotion to his country. His mottos were, ‘Deeds, not Words‘; and, ‘For God and my Country.’”
As we approach this Memorial Day, let us remember all of those that have given their lives so that we may enjoy the freedoms that we have. Let us remember the purpose for which they served, “For God and my Country.”