Sometimes our resolve is only as good as the reward we perceive there to be at the end. Sometimes that reward comes at a great cost. I believe there are times each year when we need to stop and reflect on our resolve.

It is often during this time that I think about my resolve and the sacrifices that have been made not only in forming this great nation but also in securing its future of this nation I think of the Gettysburg Address. It reminds me that we can’t say a simple thank you and move on. Instead, we must have eucharistia, continual gratitude.

Gettysburg Address

“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth. ”

What Does Resolve Look Like?

I think we have an opportunity to not only use our high resolve to show our patriotism but in other areas of our lives as well.  To me, resolve looks a lot like purpose, and when we have a purpose,  we eliminate a lot of unnecessary garbage from our lives.

It reminds me of a quote I found my Mark Twain, that is particularly fitting during this election season:

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. – Mark Twain

Do you find it difficult to highly resolve with the political climate like it is today? What about other areas in your life besides patriotism?

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