The Pledge of Allegiance

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The Pledge of Allegiance

by Monica Gambrell

Like all dedicated parents, my husband and I tried our best to attend as many of our children’s extracurricular activities as possible. It was darned near impossible to do them all, with so many children doing different things, but as the older ones moved out, it was easier to spend more time with the younger ones. Four of my five children played the trombone in the school band, and when my middle child, Sarah, marched in the high school band, we volunteered to run the concession stand at all of the home games. Boy, were we dumb! Just kidding: we actually had a good time doing it, for the most part.

On one particular day, I learned a very valuable lesson (which is almost always at a dear cost). Since I had the most gregarious personality, I was the front-person. Like a true carnie, I would screech from the confines of the concession stand, “Get your hotdogs, popcorn, and cold drinks here!” To everyone’s delight, the sales were always at their peak when I “encouraged” passers-by to partake of our delicious wares. This day was excruciatingly hot, and we really wanted to sell a lot of our frozen drinks. They had a great profit margin, and I was willing to do whatever it took to make more money for our band students. I felt indebtedness to the band that had on so many occasions allowed my children, who could not afford the uniforms, training camps, and annual competition trips, to partake just as if they could afford it. I truly felt obligated to put as much money back in the coffers as I possibly could to repay what had so graciously been given to my children. They benefitted in many ways: from the camaraderie and striving for common goals to the search for their place in the world. I felt an allegiance to this school band.

I was having the time of my life yelling at the top of my lungs to anyone who would listen when I was struck by the sudden silence and stillness of everyone around me. They were in a sort of reverent stance, and they were all facing me! What had I done? I cannot even begin to tell you how mortified I was to learn that everyone’s sudden reverence was in fact geared toward the flagpole mounted on the hill behind the concession stand. They had all stood silent before reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag of our country! My shouts had reverberated in their sudden silence, and I wanted to crawl beneath the closest rock and hide.

Like my allegiance to the school band, I feel an even stronger allegiance to my country, so I was mortified at my own dishonor of this moment. Now, though, my heart is pondering a different question. Do I revere and give honor to the allegiance I have to my Lord? Do I, in every circumstance, stop everything to set aside a time in every day in which I honor my Lord? Does my allegiance to my Lord bring me to tears like my allegiance to my country? Do I stand proudly to declare my allegiance and invite others to do the same? Let us shout a resounding “yes” to Him who deserves our allegiance. Let us never forget our allegiance to Him.

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will bring down on his head my oath that he despised and my covenant that he broke. I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment upon him there because he was unfaithful to me” (Ezekiel 17:19-20).

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