Raise the Flag – It’s Flag Day!

Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the  boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see.”  —Isaiah 62:10 [NLT]

From Humble Beginnings… Flag Day is celebrated annually on June 14 to commemorate the anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the official flag of the United States. It was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. However, it never really caught on as a nation. So, in 1885, Bernard Cigrand, a small-town Wisconsin teacher, originated the idea that we have an annual flag day to be celebrated across the country every June 14. Little by little town adopted it, but it wasn’t until 1916, that President Woodrow Wilson marked the anniversary of that 1777 decree by officially establishing June 14 as Flag Day. It took off with fervor and flags began flying not just from Federal buildings, but all kinds of buildings and people’s homes. In the early days, picnics and patriotic songs such as, You’re A Grand Old Flag, were sung with gusto and pride.

We need to continue this tradition more than ever today. We are being bombarded from within and without, even elected officials seem to be eroding our democracy. This land is a gift from God to us, our government is a gift from God to us, and our precious freedoms are a gift from God to us. Let’s remember, and YES–let’s raise that flag and celebrate!