My Own Light Show
Our great 4th of July tradition is to jump in the car at 8:30, fly down the road and squeeze into the best parking spot left on San Dieguito Road. Squatters….. right across the street from the private country club’s fireworks show. Hoping for a perfect view unobstructed by the enormous Eucalyptus trees’ branches, we throw out our camp chairs and wait for the big show to start. Rockets start to burst in the air, showering us with iridescent gold sparkles, as they softly cascade to the earth. Now a sonic boom…. blue, red and white hits the air with such an explosion of color and sound that a car alarm goes off.
I sit, like a little girl, giggling with delight.
As the fireworks explode, I think of this day of freedom. Centuries ago, the battles fought for the rights of speech, religious expression, equality in this unique land of opportunity. The promised land of America. I think of the soldiers and what it must have been like during the barrage of rockets bombarding the fort, not knowing until dawn if the American flag would still be raised in victory.
Our anthem played loudly over the speakers, only slightly competing with the still-existent car alarm. Hearing those familiar words, I felt the presence of the Father sitting next to me. We smiled together, enjoying the show. My thoughts drifted from soldiers, to areas of my life that He had brought exquisite freedom. I was overcome with feelings of appreciation and humility at His goodness towards me.
Then I heard a remarkable voice whisper to me, “You know how you feel when you think of the soldiers in the revolution? What if you could see My soldiers battling for you in the heavens all the time? What if you could see how I express My love towards you, sending armies of angels to fight the enemy for only you? What if these fireworks are My idea to show you what is happening in the heavenlies every moment of every day?”
I sat in the dark night, with bombs bursting in air, allowing His large arms of love to surround me…. sitting small in my little camp chair, amazed that He would have such thoughts towards me.
O! say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
His voice of love and freedom is here for you. He’s given you the home of the brave.
By Lauren Hasson