An American Woman's Prayer

Thank you, God. First and foremost that I'm a woman. What's more, an American woman - that luckiest of all possible beings. For nowhere else in the whole wide world could I be so respected, so cherished, so privileged (some people call it downright spoiled) and yet so free.

Thank you that I can vote or run for office (and win too). That I can marry or not, have children or not, work or not, and it's nobody's business but my own; there's nobody really to stop me but me.

Thank you that, although discrimination dies hard (men have run your world so long, God, and forgive me but you made men proud and slow to change), no doors are really closed to me. I can be a doctor, surgeon, dentist, vet. I can be a lawyer, I can be a judge. I can dance, swim, act, be an artist, drive a truck, umpire a baseball game. I can work in forests or harvest fields as well as offices if it suits me.

But, dear Lord, how I thank you that my government doesn't make me do any of these things. I can stay home and be a wife and mother if I please. I can be my own boss as I cook and sew and chase the kids and clean. (And while I'm at it, thank you for the marvelous conveniences that make keeping house in America easier than anyplace else on earth.)

Thank you, God, for the prosperity and plenty of this incredible country. The abundance of our resources - coal and oil and water and grain, and human energy and skill. For you know how hard we've worked to get where we are. Unlike the skeptical hireling of the parable, we didn't just bury the gifts you gave us, but plowed and sowed and sweat and made them bear fruit. And then, with arms and hearts overflowing, we rushed to the whole world's aid.

Thank you that we inherited not only our forefather's and mother's achievements but their generosity, their willingness to share. That never in all our history have we turned our back on another nation in need.

Thank you, God, that my children were born in this remarkable land. Born free. Daughters as well as sons, just as free as I am to do with their lives what they will.

Oh, help us truly to value that freedom, God, and guard it well. Don't let us take it for granted. Don't let us become weak, soft, vulnerable. So afraid of being considered old-fashioned, so eager to be sophisticated, modern, that we play into the hands of those who would take it away.

Don't let us discount it, downgrade it. And dear God, make us just as quick to praise our country's virtues and triumphs and blessings as we are to criticize. For who can do his best - man, woman, child or nation - if no credit is ever forthcoming? No appreciation - only blame?

Help us to stop criticizing ourselves so much, God. Restrain our own breast beating. Help us to remember that no nation since the beginning of time has ever had even half the freedom and advantages we enjoy.

Light in us fervent new fires of patriotism, Lord. Patriotism. A word of passionate honor in almost every country except the one that deserves it so much! Make us proud to be American patriots once again. Willing to shout our heritage from the housetops. Let us thrill once more to the sight of our star-spangled banner. May it fly from every flagpole, be honored in every schoolroom. Let us and our children pledge our allegiance to it wherever Americans gather, and sing the words of its anthem with love and thanksgiving.

Oh, Lord, dear Lord, remind us: We are so lucky to be Americans. And I'm so lucky to be an American woman.