Dear Mom,
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims' landing at Plymouth Rock. The colonists' experiment in a new way of living has given us a legacy of liberty and made ours the most free and most prosperous nation on Earth.
|
|
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, let us remember the many blessings God has given us. Amid so much uncertainty and upheaval, we can focus on these gifts and how we can bring light to the world around us.
|
|
Now is also a good time to learn more about our nation's founding and the principles the pilgrims relied on--the same principles we need to bring our nation back to God. I encourage you to watch the documentary "Monumental: In Search of America's National Treasure." The film follows Kirk Cameron, a husband, father, patriot, and actor, on his quest to understand what makes the American founding unique and what is needed to return to those principles.
In particular, Cameron highlights the National Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth, Massachussetts, which demonstrates the pilgrim's formula for success in America and guides us back to these founding principles. I had the privelege of visiting this monument a few weeks ago and was amazed. You can read more about the pilgrims in the essay included below.
For introducing these important topics to young children, I recomment this animated video about William Bradford, who led the pilgrims as governor after they landed on Plymouth Rock and established the feast of thanksgiving in honor of God.
|
|
God has given us abundant blessings in the United States of America. That is the reason we gather in gratitude as a nation this week. The team at Moms for America® wishes you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving!
In Truth and Liberty,
|
|
Kimberly Fletcher
President & Founder, Moms for America®
|
|
|
P.S. Want to be a part of the social connections in our network? Join our Facebook group to connect, brainstorm, and be encouraged by fellow moms.
|
|
From the very beginning of our nation we were a unique people. We were unique because we came to America to seek a better life. America was a new frontier. It was a place where new things could be tried and the survival of the Colonists who came here depended on trying new things. The old things just didn’t work in the New World and God never intended them to.
The people of America had an intimate knowledge of the Bible which told them who they were, what their rights were and from whence those rights came. They believed that not only could they govern and provide for themselves but that according to God, they were expected to.
It was the pilgrims who first introduced the concept of freedom to America for it was they who discovered it. The experiences they had in that little colony were a living tutorial on the principles and blessings of freedom, the responsibility to maintain it, and the prosperity that flows from it. One might wonder why the Plymouth colony faired so well so quickly when the Jamestown Colony struggled with want and starvation for so long. Why was it that the Pilgrims were able to make peace with their Indian neighbors and the Jamestown colonists were constantly at war with them?
The reason is rooted in each colony’s purpose for coming to the new world. The Jamestown colonists came seeking gold. The pilgrims came seeking freedom to worship. The matter of purpose may seem like insignificant trivia to us, but when you understand the history of the colonies, you realize just how much that difference made in the establishment of America and freedom itself.
The people in both colonies had been brought up in the same European feudal system. Both came from the same country. But the purpose with which the Pilgrims came made them more desirous to treat each other as equals. The Jamestown colonists came with their feudal classes with every intention of establishing a colony with those same classes firmly in place. The Lords and nobles expected the peasants and crew to do the work building homes, planting fields, and searching for their illusive gold. Their job, of course, was to govern and reap the fruits of the underclass’s labors.
That may have worked out fine in England but in America if everyone didn’t work everyone starved. That was a lesson that took the Jamestown colonists many tortuous years of war and hunger to realize and when they didn’t have enough food, they just took it from the Indians which escalated their miseries even further. But the Pilgrims struggled as well. They too faced death and starvation so why did their colony succeed so well so quickly when the Jamestown colony suffered for decades? The answer is human energy.
|
|
The Pilgrims came to America seeking freedom but they also knew they needed order. You don’t just start a colony with no kind of organization or law. So, before they even set foot on land, the colonists organized a government with the signing of the Mayflower Compact—a document that guaranteed just and equal laws to govern all residents of the community, regardless of their religious convictions. The concepts contained in the Compact were all based on Biblical reasoning—which the Pilgrims had become very familiar with as they read the Bible together with their families every day.
The first thing the Pilgrims did when they landed was build a common house where the people could worship and gather. Once that was done they began building individual homes and planting crops. Everyone worked together as a community. No one owned anything but the community owned everything. Everyone was given a job to do for the community. Those who were designated to do laundry did the laundry for the entire community, just as those who did the planning, building and cooking. Everything came from the community, everything went to the community, and everyone received an equal share. It was, in fact, the first experiment in Christian Communism. It seemed the perfect expression of brotherly love. Why wouldn’t the pilgrims, who were such devout witnesses of Christ, want to serve their neighbors in this way? But the Pilgrims learned very quickly that their communal idea could not sustain their fledgling colony.
William Bradford, who became Governor of the Colony, explained the results of their experiment in his diary. He said young able bodied men, who were perfectly fit to work, complained that they were expected to spend their time and strength to work for other men’s women and children with no compensation whatsoever. They felt it was terribly unjust. What incentive did they have to put in a hard day’s work? So the women started feigning sickness and there was a sudden epidemic of “bad backs” among the men. Everyone received an equal portion of food and goods regardless of how much work they did, so why would they work harder? Why would they work at all?
The result of their experiment was less production which led to less rations to share. While it wasn’t the same kind of society that Jamestown had established, the results were just as devastating. Half of the Pilgrims died during the first winter including William Bradford’s wife. He witnessed firsthand what a costly and destructive mistake their experiment in collectivism had been. The Pilgrims learned a valuable lesson from the experience. They realized that socialism gave no incentive to the most creative and industrious among them to work any harder than anyone else. Collectivism had prevented the exercise of personal motivation. It had stifled human energy!
So, after dabbling in collectivism, socialism, and communism, the colonists decided to try a new experiment—self-reliance. With the aid of their Indian neighbors, they learned how to produce better crops and harvest more fish. They completely did away with their communal disbursements assigning all members private property rights of land as well as the right to profit from their own industry. What happened next was a sudden robust release of human energy that proved to all of Europe you could make a good home in America. It was the first experiment in Christian Capitalism and it was a huge success! The Pilgrims became more industrious than even they imagined they could. They planted more corn, built more homes and churches, opened shops, organized trade and, true to the word their word, paid off the London sponsors who had made their journey to America possible.
So what made the difference? Why did the Pilgrims succeed so well in their experiment with Capitalism and fail so miserably under their experiment with Communism? In each instance the Pilgrims had a Christian heart and purpose; in each they had a will to survive, but in the first they were totally okay with others providing for their survival and in the second they worked like dogs to provide for their own. So what changed? Was it a desire to turn a profit? Was it fear of starvation? No. It was because now they had a personal interest and personal stake and suddenly, they cared.
The Pilgrims had no problem being slothful when it was for “the community’s” benefit; but when the responsibility for their own family’s survival was put square on their shoulders, and they knew their family would benefit from their own labors, they immediately had a deep desire to give it everything they had. They’re work had a purpose and it became very personal—it became a matter of the heart. There is no greater incentive than that. Their hearts were infused with a desire to succeed and Human Energy sprang forth at mammoth proportions blessing not only their own families but the entire colony. Johann Goethe once said, “If everyone swept his own porch, the whole town would be clean.” The Pilgrims swept their own porches, so to speak, and the whole colony thrived.
|
|
So the purpose, for which the Plymouth and Jamestown colonies operated, is not just insignificant trivia; it is, in fact, profoundly relevant. While Jamestown continued for decades to rely on Europe for supply ships for their survival, Plymouth became a source of supplies for Europe. It was the success of Plymouth, not the establishment of Jamestown, which initiated the “Great Puritan Migration” leading to the rapid colonization of America. It literally was a matter of the heart.
Human Energy is directly related to the heart. Seeking riches and fame can only take you so far. If you are truly going to extend your human energy to its greatest degree, it has to become a matter of the heart. And it is to the heart that we, the authors, wish to speak.
We have been told over and over that there is an energy crisis in America—in the world for that matter—and we, at Moms for America®, wholeheartedly agree. We are in the worst energy crisis ever—a Human Energy Crisis! We live in a nation where We the People govern, We the People produce, We the People create; but there is a serious lack of production, creation and governing being done on our part. Why? Because we have lost our incentive. It is no longer personal. Human energy is the energy output from the heart and too many hearts have become cold.
As previously stated, there is a direct correlation between human energy and the heart. When our heart is filled with truth, virtue, and beauty the outpouring of our energy in our time, talents, and the choices we make, reflect what is in our heart. When we are inspired by a story, a song, a piece of art, or the recognition of a truth, we have a greater desire to do better, to be better, to work harder. Or in other words, we increase our human energy. When human energy increases we see a rise in knowledge, wisdom, compassion, innovation, joy, peace, enlightenment, selfless service, discernment, and true education—as free men and women seek for a better life.
The opposite of inspire is to hinder, deter, depress, or discourage. When these things are present the energy output of the heart decreases and we see a rise in depression, anger, selfishness, fear, grief, apathy, and shame. When people are governed by fear they are reactive to their external environment—they become more irritable, explosive, and oversensitive and we see an increase in addictions, obsessions, and greed.
Is that not what we are seeing in the world today?
American Author David Starr Jordan has stated, “If the experiment of government by the people is to be successful, it is you and such as you who must make it so. The future of the Republic must lie in the hands of the men and women of culture and intelligence, of self-control and of self-resource, capable of taking care of themselves and of helping others. If it falls not into such hands, the republic will have no future....The problem of life is not to make life easier, but to make men stronger, so that no problem shall be beyond their solution....The remedy for oppression is to bring in better men who cannot be oppressed.”
The human will is the strongest energy in the universe. It is time we release it and put an end to the debilitating energy crisis once and for all.
|
|
We will follow this transformative 16-week program exploring how the Founding Fathers were led to write the Constitution. Through in-depth seminars, we'll learn about the free government they established and how our Constitution transformed the world.
|
|
Looking for like-minded moms? Join MomConnect, the private Facebook group for Moms For America®.
This is a place where we can meet to discuss the things important to us as mothers and mothers at heart—where we can share ideas, express concerns, and offer support and encourage each other in the greatest work we’ll ever do. We are literally shaping the future of America. The values and virtues we teach and nurture in our home will become the future standard for our nation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
