My favorite lesson!

As I think I mentioned before, I taught in Relief Society on Sunday. It was a pretty remarkable experience for me. My lesson was on the hand of the Lord in the formation of our country, specifically in our constitution. I don't have time to do a full write up here, but I thought I'd pass along a few of my favorite quotes.

Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea. - John Gunther

No human laws are of any validity, if contrary to God's laws, and such of them as are valid derive all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original. - Alexander Hamilton

In 1740, a mere generation before the Revolution, the intellectual life of America was dominated by clergymen; by 1840, a generation or so after the Revolution, it would be dominated by scientists and inventors. Only for the brief span of a single lifetime would America's statesmen and her brightest thinkers be the same men.

How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! - Thomas Jefferson

One man with courage makes a majority. - Andrew Jackson

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisibly hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. - George Washington

Those men who laid the foundation of this American government were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits... [and] were inspired of the Lord. - Wilford Woodruff

The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life. This country will not be a permanently good place for us to live unless it's a good place for all of us to live. - Theodore Roosevelt

A citizen of this republic cannot do his duty and be an idle spectator. - Ezra Taft Benson

Because of our unwillingness to get involved in the preservation of these values, small, radical, Godless groups are literally stealing from us our rights to enjoy the freedom to choose our own value system. - L. Tom Perry

Evidently the Supreme Court misinterprets the true meaning of the First Amendment, and are now leading a Christian nation down the road to atheism. – David O. McKay

Ok, that ended up being a few more than I intended, but still not nearly enough. What a blessing it is to live in a land prepared by the Lord. This truly is the promised land and I am grateful to be blessed to be a citizen of The United States of America. Happy Independence Day, and God bless you all.