FOUNDER'S FRIDAY--A CAPABLE SEAMSTRESS

I felt it appropriate this week to highlight Betsy Ross and the American flag on Founder's Friday since I was showing off my own needlework on a recent post. As well as that, I have heard bits of news lately concerning something that appears to be a distaste on the part of some for our flag. I haven't been able to listen long enough to make much comment on that, for I wouldn't have my facts straight, but this is nothing new. This kind of nonsense seems to occur every once in a while. I remember other incidents of flag burning and so on when I was younger. It seems every so often someone makes news for such despicable stuff. To behave in such a manner is an insult to those who died to make us free, rallying under the symbol of our flag. I remember returning to the United States after my first trip abroad and I was never so glad to see American soil as I was that day. I appreciated my country anew and felt like kissing the ground of the Detroit airport (I'd been to Detroit many times before and never felt like kissing the ground!) when I departed the plane. We truly do not realize how blessed we are to be living here until we see other places where life is not so easy. I enjoyed visiting other countries and honor and respect them and their citizens, but I LOVE my own country deeply and thank God for placing me here.



Betsy Ross was a Philadelphia upholsterer at the time of the Revolution. The legend of the first flag goes something like this: George Washington and two of the signers of the declaration visited her shop and commissioned her to make a flag from a sketch Washington showed her. She supposedly suggested changing the six pointed star to a five pointed star, showing the gentlemen how easy it would be to create a perfect star from a fabric folding technique. The flag we now have reflects Betsy's suggestion.



Apparently this story was not public until nearly 100 years later when a grandson of Betsy's told it. Whether or not it is accurate doesn't really matter all that much as far as I'm concerned. The lesson that I find in it all is that even a widow lady (Betsy was a widow) could conceivably use her God-given talents to do her country a great service. After all, someone made the first flag--someone who had to have needlework experience. What do we have in our hands to use for the sake of our country? Will we be patriots who look for ways to use our talents to promote the good of our nation?



If there ever was a time that all American patriots are needed to rally to the cause, it's now. Ask God what special thing you might be able to do to help return America to its roots of freedom and traditions of honoring God. The Lord will always use a willing vessel. I am encouraged by the Betsy Ross story. To think, a simple bit of needlework made such a huge impact on our nation for years and years! What can your special talent or gift contribute? Blessings, LORI