Journey to Pikes Peak
Have you ever been to Pikes Peak? On a clear, clear day the Peak is visible on the western horizon for almost two hours before you get there. Just a few weeks ago, my wife and I were privileged to sit near the Peak and spoil the granddaughters with some ice cream in the town of Manitou Springs. Back in 1893, Katharine Lee Bates was so inspired by the view from the peak that she wrote some beautiful lyrics and then kept revising them until 1911. Finally the hymn was ready for publication.
O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain.
AMERICA! AMERICA! God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
O beautiful for Pilgrim feet, whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness!
AMERICA! AMERICA! God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!
AMERICA! AMERICA! May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness and every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam undimmed by human tears!
AMERICA! AMERICA! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!
Prayer: God whose blessing we experience in more ways than we can imagine, continue to watch over us and shed your grace upon our land. Amen
--Ben Keckler
07.03.09
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