Rights and Responsibilities

I home teach an awesome family for Church. Their names are the Lopez's. They have lived and worked in the US for many years legally and Brother Lopez was sworn in as a US Citizen this week. I went to the ceremony with the family in SLC, UT. Then we had a fiesta all day with Sister Lopez cooking amazing Peruvian food. The events surrounding this and the deep patriotic spirit in my blood have caused me to reflect on the blessing it is to live and truly pursue happiness in this great nation. For all the political bickering and economic woe I still feel incredibly blessed to live in this free nation ordained and upheld by the hand of God.

I thought of the words of George Washington in his first Inaugural Address, "I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my Country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no more persuaded that the propitiuous smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the Republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people." In summary that there are duties and moral obligations that come with the preservation of liberty and individual rights.

At the ceremony where Brother Lopez was sworn in, this was something that I treasured. The presentation was incredibly patriotic. At the same time the judge allowed several of the new citizens to comment on why they became a citizen. Some said for jobs or rights or other things. Several were refugees. One very moving story was a young man from Sudan. He was one of the "lost boys of Sudan." Taken from families and forced to use a machine gun taller than he was in the war torn nation for most of his life. He sought freedom and a place to belong. A nation where he could determine his own destiny and get away from war. Others talked about fear of their government and fleeing for political asylum because in their nations they were not free.

I had tears come to my eyes as I treasured their powerful testimonies of what was something many of us often take for granted the right to be free. However, several also talked about how they had lived in this great nation and received so many liberties and blessings because of living here. They wanted to give back and uphold the responsibilities they should have been giving. This group really touched my heart. To hear someone who understands that the crux of moral liberty is not unrestrained freedom but instead freedom with responsibility. We have the freedom to vote. We have the responsibility to actually vote in every election, know and study the candidates and write to those we elect. So many rights are cherished without upholding our end of the social contract which is our constitution. That is my message today. To seize life and live it in a free nation we must live out our rights and responsibilities. We cannot shirk and be free. Without moral liberty we have no freedom to choose, just freedom with unlimited consequence for our choices.

As George Washington so eloquently said, "... since we ought to be no more persuaded that the propitiuous smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the Republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."

God bless America! And God bless that the people of America will live up to their rights and responsibilities that this nation might endure and the "sacred fire of liberty" not be extinguished!