It’s the Fourth of July, and it’s one of my favorite holidays. I think part of why I love it so much is how much fun I had as a child on this day.
When I was nine, my family moved from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Barrington, Rhode Island. We had a wonderful home there, one block from the saltwater river that comes off Narragansett Bay, and one block from the woods. I’d spend my whole summer going between the water and the woods, and I loved it so much.
In New England, the Fourth of July is a really big deal. Rhode Island is one of the original 13 colonies, and even though it’s the smallest state in the union, it has its own unique foods because of all the immigrants who landed there. My friends and neighbors were mostly the children of immigrants from Italy, Poland, and Portugal, so we grew up with all kinds of wonderful ethnic foods and celebrations.
There were clam cakes, basically clam fritters, but they only make them that way in Rhode Island. My brother loved the red hot weenies. Not my thing, but people there love them like crazy. And there was Dell’s frozen lemonade, so lemony and not too sweet, ridiculously refreshing on a hot day. I love baked stuffed quahogs too, another treat you really only find in Rhode Island.
Every Fourth, we’d go to the oldest parade in the United States, in Bristol. It wasn’t fancy at all, but the American enthusiasm for our country was everywhere. Then the fireworks at night were absolutely my favorite, along with going to the beach for dip after dip in the ocean. These were the delights of summer.
I’ll admit that with the state of our country, it feels a little challenging to be patriotic right now. Even so, last night I went down to Gloucester Harbor here in Massachusetts to join the crowd, listen to the music, and watch the fireworks with a dear friend. It’s still wonderful to celebrate with the good things about our nation.
I’m grateful to be a citizen of the United States, no matter how I feel about the government in any given moment. What I know about America is that America is the people who live here and love this country, and that’s a beautiful thing. I love my country, and I aspire to help make it better with the choices I make in my life.
One of the things I appreciate most is the diversity. It feels like home to me. Last night I looked around at the fireworks and saw people from every walk of life, every color, and every age, all of us coming together to celebrate. I pray every day for truth to be revealed and love to prevail, here and all over the world. What I know is that we are the many who are truly one.
Here’s something I’m profoundly grateful for. Freedom is a spiritual quality of God. It’s part of our natural state, part of our very beingness. A Course in Miracles reminds us: “I am as God created me.” Free. Whole. Innocent. I rely on that truth now, because I used to feel trapped in my own mind. Not anymore.
When we’re willing we can recover our right mind and find the Peace that’s been there all along. In A Course in Miracles gives us our purpose: “I am here only to be truly helpful.” That’s part of our spiritual responsibility to our brothers and sisters, and it’s our blessing to share.
Happy Independence Day. Happy Fourth of July. May you know the Peace and Freedom of God forever!
IN-PERSON EVENT – Quantum Counseling Training Intensive in July – This is my most powerful healing event – and I only do it in person every other year. If you have an interest in training to be a spiritual counselor or simply doing some dealing work to open up your intuition and improve your relationships, I’ve been offering a professional training intensive for the last 15 years. This year we’re doing the training intensive – open to anyone whether or not you have any interest in becoming a counselor – the Quantum Counseling Training Intensive in Asheville NC Sunday, July 12th to Saturday, July 18th with Jennifer Hadley and Mark Anthony Lord, as well as Guest Teachers Alan Cohen, Jon Mundy and Lisa Natoli, Michael Mirdad joining us online – register soon so you can qualify for early-bird bonuses please click here now for more info.
Did you miss it? Q&A for the Quantum Counseling Training Intensive is available on replay now. Have you felt the nudge to go deeper in your healing journey—but you’re not sure where to begin? The replay is available now!
LATEST PODCAST EPISODE: Mark Anthony Lord: The Work That Heals Us Mark Anthony Lord and I met as practitioners in training in 1999, and we’ve walked the same path ever since: prayer practitioner training, becoming ministers, starting our own ministries, learning to counsel and to train counselors. We each came up through a dark night first. What we keep marveling at is that the work itself is what healed us, and that A Course in Miracles met us at every turn. We go all the way back to the beginning here, and we don’t tidy it up.
