America at 250: The Family and the Future We Still Have Time to Build

This July 4th, America turns 250 years old.

For 250 years, generations of Americans have built, sacrificed, served, and defended this extraordinary nation. Many gave their very lives so that we might enjoy the blessings of liberty and the opportunity to pursue a meaningful life.

As we celebrate this milestone, I believe we should ask ourselves a deeper question:

What will it take for America to flourish for another 250 years?

I believe the answer is closer than we think.

It begins with family.

Before government,
before schools,
before businesses,
before churches,

God created family.

Family is civilization's first classroom.

It is where we first learn identity, love, discipline, service, work ethic, responsibility, self-governance, and sacrifice.

Strong nations are built upon strong families because strong families build strong people.

And strong people build everything else.

If you ask my family what I have talked about and tried to live out loud throughout my life, they would likely say two things:

Personal responsibility and the importance of family.

The irony is that neither of those things were modeled for me growing up!

In some cases, I experienced just the opposite.

How in the world I came to understand these principles so deeply, I cannot fully explain. I can only say that somewhere along the way I began to see that these two truths were inseparable.

Family and personal responsibility are deeply linked.

Family is where personal responsibility should be taught.

And personal responsibility is what sustains families.

I am not speaking about perfection. I certainly did not parent perfectly.

I raised six children, including triplets, as a single mother. There were seasons of exhaustion, uncertainty, mistakes, and moments when I felt completely inadequate for the task before me.

But I learned something that changed my life.

No matter what was happening around me, I still had stewardship over what happened inside my home.

I could teach responsibility.

I could teach service.

I could teach love.

I could teach resilience.

I could teach God's blueprint for the family.

I could make the well-being of my family my priority.

And I have come to believe with all my heart that taking personal responsibility for the care of our families is one of the most important acts of patriotism available to us today.

You cannot legislate what only families can cultivate.

No government program can manufacture integrity.

No policy can create self-governance.

No institution can teach sacrifice and unconditional love the way families can.

If America is to flourish for another 250 years, our revitalization will not begin in Washington.

It will begin in living rooms.

At dinner tables.

On front porches.

In community gatherings.

In ordinary homes where mothers and fathers, grandparents, and even imperfect people from imperfect backgrounds decide to intentionally build strong families.

What if you didn't come from a healthy home? Your beginning does not determine your ending.

You can become the turning point.

You can become the generation that changes the story.

You can build what you never had.

You can teach what was never taught to you.

You can model what was never modeled for you.

Family is not about perfection.

It is about stewardship, personal responsibility, commitment, honoring one another, it's about living God's love out in ordinary and faithful ways.

As America turns 250, I believe we also have a responsibility to those who came before us.

The men and women who carved this nation from wilderness, built communities, raised families, fought wars, and sacrificed everything for the preservation of liberty.

Talk about personal responsibility! Those extraordinary individuals came from families. They were formed in homes!

Now it's our turn.

We are temporary stewards of this great American experiment.

What we cultivate inside our homes today will determine what kind of nation our children inherit tomorrow.

Strong nations are built upon strong families.

If our nation is going to persevere for another 250 years, her restoration will begin where God intended it all along...in the HOME.