Motivational Monday: America at a Crossroads

With the 4th of July coming up this week, I thought it would be appropriate for Motivational Monday to have a patriotic theme. I love this country and feel so blessed that I was privileged to be born here. I know there are so many people born in other country's that do not have the liberties we enjoy here. I do worry about the direction are country is going but pray that enough people will continue to unhold the basic principles this country was founded on to keep it a choice land. I have put snippets from a talk from Ezra Taft Benson's 1978 talk "America at a Crossroads" below for you read.


"I love America. I love the people in this beloved land as well as our Father’s children in all other countries. The Lord decreed that America is “a land choice above all other lands” to those who keep his commandments. We remain here in this land as long as we remain in God’s divine favor.

[The Ten Commandments] are the foundation principles upon which all civilized government and our present civilization is built. To disregard them will lead to inevitable personal character loss and ruin. To disregard them as a nation will inevitably lead that nation to destruction.

It must be remembered that the Founding Fathers of the United States of America were men imbued with these basic principles. It is a part of my faith that these were “wise men whom [God] raised up” for the purpose of establishing the Constitution of the United States.

'We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' (Declaration of Independence.)

1. May I urge you to keep your own families strong. A nation is no stronger than the sum total of its families.

2. I would respectfully urge you to live by the fundamental principles of work, thrift, and self-reliance and to teach your children by your example.Then store at least a year’s supply of basic food, clothing, and fuel.

3. May I humbly urge you to learn about the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other basic documents of our great country so that you can sustain it and the free institutions set up under it. It is a part of my faith that the Constitution of the United States was inspired by God.

4. May I urge you to seek out good, wise, and honest men for public office, and then support them with your vote.

5. I would urge you to heed strictly the commandments of God, particularly the Ten Commandments.

America has a spiritual foundation. But today she stands at the crossroads, The crisis before her is a crisis of faith; the need is for greater spirituality and a return to the basic principles upon which this nation was founded.

In the words of Thomas Paine: 'These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.' (The Life and Major Writings of Thomas Paine, ed. Philip S. Foner, Seacaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press, 1974, p. 50.)T hat was said on December 23, 1776, a time of great crisis in our struggle for independence. We face a similar spiritual crisis more than 200 years later.

The days ahead are sobering and challenging and will require the faith, prayers, loyalty, and courage of every citizen.

May God’s blessings be upon us that your generation will be equal to the task."