Country Chatter

Today I took a drive on Route 60 east and then on Route 13 into the village. I wanted to see how are people were celebrating July 4th-Independence Day.  I took some pictures.

Most of the local businesses were closed.

 Every street light in the village was flying a flag.

The Community Cemetery had quite a few flags by graves.  I wondered…did they die fighting for our freedom?

When you left the main road and drove the side roads where the locals live, flags were flying. There were people in their yards preparing for backyard picnics.   Most of the “pop & mom” local businesses were closed.  Even in the village of Powhatan it was quiet and the restaurants were closed. They dared to have a free day to be with family and friends or to do things at home, travel or just relax.  The “box” stores; Walmart, Tractor Supply, Food Lion, were open for business as usual as well as the national chain stores such as Pizza Hut, Subway, and McDonalds.

It struck us how here on the farm it was so quiet and peaceful.  I grilled hamburgers for lunch and we sat down on the patio to eat and relax instead of grabbing and running.  We worked at numerous projects but also enjoyed a beautiful evening relaxing on the patio with a grilled barbecue chicken supper.

Independence Day is a celebration of who we are as a nation.  We were founded by people of faith, seeking religious freedom.  The Christian faith was important and if you read the speeches, letters, documents of our Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence you will see the importance of faith in God and morality.  The whole back page of section A of the Times Dispatch today has some of these statements.   “In God We Trust” became our national motto and we believed that as long as a nation trusted and believed in God it would prosper.  Psalms 33:12 says “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord“.  Belief in God and Jesus Christ and the Bible as the inspired Word of God was the basis for education, the judicial system and executive powers.  Those who “hate” America today are those who are trying to turn us into a godless nation and they are winning this battle.  As a people we need to repent and return to our Creator, acknowledge Him, honor Him and worship Him.

It also does a community good to pause, reflect, rest, and to take a day off from the usual hustle and bustle, buying and selling.  When businesses are closed people do things together as families.  A big shout out to the businesses that honored the day. It is good for a community to come together and celebrate whether by picnics, fireworks or fun events, It would be good for us as a community to remember our roots and to give thanks for the wisdom of our founding fathers.