It's a B to the G fit to a T Thing

Dear America,

"God, Home and Country"

NSDAR Motto

indeed

so yesterday, my DAR chapter celebrated its final meeting until the fall; for all intents and purposes, we go dark just when the sun is shining its brightest.  

to honor the last meeting, the intention was to invite someone who would simply inspire us to keep up the good fight, to remind us of who we are and what we do, and send us on our way --  as we all go our separate ways -- with the same kind of spirit and enthusiasm as the year began.   Our speaker was lined up months in advance -- because she is just that special.

Who knew, that from the time we booked her in early January,  that it would cap off such an emotional year, a springtime entrenched in melancholy and loss of one of our own, one of our very best, one of our very brightest.  It was as if the sun, itself, went down, and out, for good.

The chapter was awfully thirsty by the time Chaplain LaToya Zavala LT. USN, made her appearance.

....we didn't even realize how parched.

and what comes to mind when we hear the word parched...
perhaps arid, scorched, withered, and dry -- yes, dry as dust --  a desert comes to mind...yes, yes, lost in the desert.  Thirsty, so so thirsty.

About a month out, she asked of what kind of presentation we were looking for, and we exchanged emails to that end and I forgot all about it.  But lo and behold, just how did she open her remarks on the day?  Poking a little fun at the tall order -- and hearing her tell it, continues to make me giggle still twenty four hours later. For I had asked her to speak of the DAR motto, to motivate the troops after such a blistering spring, and springboard us into summer with enough fire in our bellies to come back in October with bells on and ringing mightily...all in fifteen minutes, LaToya would add.   yeah, yeah, that was the funny part.

And, have to admit, it was all true.  I asked her to move mountains, to bring us out of the desert -- to bring a presentation like no other presentation that's come before, and complete the mission in fifteen minutes.  

And guess what?

SHE DID!

In real life, LaToya personifies the NSDAR motto to a T.

GOD:  By trade, she is a chaplain -- BA in Pastoral Theology, with a minor in Biblical Languages, and Master of Divinity, with post-graduate work in Clinical Pastoral Education...and, after joining the Navy, with tours of duty around the world, she is currently stationed at Camp Pendleton, serving the pastoral needs of our fine marines.   They are so lucky to have her loving council everyday.

HOME:  Per her bio, Chaplain LaToya is happily married and mother of two, while on the cusp of receiving an adoption, thereby expanding her home and family to the power of five, or maybe six (considering they are open to receiving siblings).  And what a joy it must be to have LaToya as a mother, that's all I have to say.  Scratch that.  It's not all -- for this woman radiates pure divinity and grace, all the while keeping at the ready a certain boldness, strength, and command; and this is precisely what it takes to do the good works of motherhood, if you intend to do it well.

COUNTRY:  This speaks for itself; there is a clear love of country when you are willing to give your  own life in its security and protection.  She is so bold in this arena of defending our nation, this country, she swore to the following oath: 

"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the _____ (Military Branch) of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God."

so help me GOD. indeed indeed.

LaToya IS  God, IS Home, IS Country, all wrapped up in a beautiful, joyful, compassionate and passionate, package.

Our chapter was so blessed to have her for a day.

LaToya moved us from the start, declaring just how much our culture has marginalized our relationship with God, placing this relationship with our Creator, generally speaking, firmly into something less-than, parched by the ever-increasing secular dominance of toning down our faith as a way of co-existing.   It's as if we carelessly say, oh It's around, this God, but essentially, we can't abide by the commandments of our faith when it comes to the day to day.  And above all, we have to be quiet about It.

It's as if, culturally, we are allowed to recognize God, but not really; God is just up there, in the heavens somewhere away from here.  But maybe we shouldn't even be so bold as to say that.  Perhaps, we must tone it down even a wee bit more, and refer to this thing, this so-called feeling of  God, as merely something divine that may, or may not be, high above, that may, or may not, lead us; and just maybe we give this something the glory only when we feel like it.

OH and she is so right.

From my Jesus Calling, just this morning:  

"Relax in My Healing, holy Presence.  Be still while I transform your heart and mind... Do not be like the Pharisees who multiplied regulations, creating their own form of  'godliness.'  They got so wrapped up in their own rules that they lost sight of Me.  Even today, man-made rules about how to live the Christian life enslave many people.  Their focus is on their performance, rather than on Me.  It is through knowing Me intimately that you become like Me.  This requires spending time alone with Me.  Let go, relax, be still, and know that I am God."

LaToya -- the one who fits the DAR motto to a T -- hit this very reality of a certain cultural conformity to a watered down version of our faith in God, with a capital G, to a capital T, and then some.

Within the first five -- of the paltry fifteen minutes I gave her -- we found ourselves screaming shouts of joy and thanksgiving to our faith, to our God.  And it was good, so GOOD.

From one of my favorite books, Real Christianity, by William Wilberforce -- 

"To place the glory of anything over the glory of God is idolatry...Whatever draws our heart from Him, engrosses our minds or holds the number one spot in our affection is an idol.  Only God is to be the object of our supreme worship...

At the risk of repeating myself, let me point out the false thinking that exists about the nature of authentic faith.  True faith is something that so pervades our lives that it affects everything we do.  It is a matter of the heart, where its reality becomes our supreme influence.  It seeks to root out anything that is contrary to its truth and attempts to bring all the heart's desires and affections under control."

The Pharisees got so wrapped up in their own rules that they lost sight of Me...

True faith is something that so pervades our lives that it affects everything we do.

We were a thirsty bunch, indeed. 

The thing is:  It took someone completely outside our bubble to wake us, enliven our spirits once more, and remind us of the good we do and from where it all comes.  With a splash of  water here, and a splash of water there, suddenly a room once brimming with weary faces, came alive again simply by being within earshot of a gentle fountain of faith, trickling up with the fundamentals and the ideals back behind our motto, carrying on with nothing short of exuberance while flashing a smile a mile wide. 

And considering our group is more amenable to these ideals in the first place --  as in, she was preaching to the choir -- it just goes to show that even the best of us need fresh sustenance, a daily dose of manna for the road ahead.

If it's not us declaring to God be the Glory, then what gives us any hope for any kind of future?

Our nation's own history proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that we, as a people, were so full of faith, that we declared it everywhere!   We gave God the glory on buildings, like court houses and municipalities; we gave God the glory in schools, allowing time set aside for personal prayers; we gave God the glory, and printed, as such, on our money, ensuring that God received the credit for our abundance and every good thing, as we exchanged money for goods and services.

Just look at what is happening now -- freedom from religion has usurped the value and security of the greatest, fundamental freedom, the greatest ideal, for which America stands. This freedom from religion nonsense claims "to promote nontheism and defend the constitutional separation between religion and government...."   When what they really want to do is dismantle our very foundation of God, Home and Country, from which America was made...albeit naturally, organically, and with bold reverence!

So are we to believe, that for a country founded on religious freedom, a separation from the Church of England controlling our lives, by taxation and otherwise, we are to cease being mindful of, and exercising, our true faith in God?  That we can only be religious at night, behind closed doors, or better still, in the dark?

When, the fact remains -- if in reference to a people of authentic faith -- there is to be no separation from this God in our daily life; what becomes unconstitutional, then,  is the masking of our faith, the hiding in the shadows of our faith.   Just what do you think will happen, once this butchery of our history,  our beliefs, our founding principles, takes hold without regret?  [Just for the record, all self-righteousness set aside, we are seeing it with our own eyes as we speak.]

God!

Home!

Country!

Truth is, "[W]hen the cement that has held a nation together no longer exists, the state soon dissolves into anarchy."  just another little something from Real Christianity...

God MUST come first, for this relationship is not only the most important, it gives us the foundation, the strength, the stillness, the peace, the home and country -- fit to make our way in the every day, every moment of the day, whether called to the needs of home or country.  

God centers us, and fills us, overflowing,  with everything we need, fit to meet every hope, every dream, every need -- every everyday concern for goodness sake --  with bells on, and ringing mightily, madly, deeply.

For God so loved the world; for God IS the Creator of all the world, of all things, seen and unseen.

It is Sunday.  And it is a good. 

And my heart is full -- thanks to the reservoir of this clay jar -- me -- being filled to the brim through positive words of encouragement based in faith in God.  So, to LaToya, my muse, goes my gratitude. 

But even LaToya would surely agree, that it is To God -- Savior, King of Kings, Jehovah, Creator of ALL Things, fit to a T with a capital G --  Be the Glory, Forever and Forever.  amen.

this is just my blog to the G, fit to a T, Thing.  amen.

Make it a Good Day, G