Somber Celebration...Happy Canada Day!

I have often shared excerpts from Peter Marshall's
 The American Dream(for the whole message click link)

which I read each Canada Day because the message applies to Canadians just as well! 

...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves

 and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, 

then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chron.7:14

Land of liberty’s allowance

Brims with bloom and ‘freedom’s vote’

While it wavers in a balance

With a noose around its throat

Land that boasts of milk and honey

Tables heaped with fortune’s fruit

From a tree of borrowed money

With a sickle at its root

Land of ebbing comprehension

Where Endeavor’s Ego flies

Posting plans of intervention

From quick-sands of compromise

Land of bounty, land of beauty

Freedom is bought with a price

Land built on far more than duty

Land that stands on sacrifice

God, who made thy mountain rafter

Carved through rock thy coursing sea

Forgive those who scorn with laughter

Thou who keeps us strong and free

Somber is our celebration

Aware like never before

Of a rift in the foundation

And a wolf outside the door

© Janet Martin

 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: 
be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Matt.10:16

 Our National Anthem

 written by Calixa Lavallée


"O Canada" (French: Ô Canada) is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée composed the music, after which, words were written by the poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The original lyrics were in French; an English translation was published in 1906. Multiple English versions ensued, with Robert Stanley Weir's version in 1908 gaining the most popularity, eventually serving as the basis for the official lyrics enacted by Parliament.^[1] Weir's lyrics have been revised three times, most recently when An Act to amend the National Anthem Act (gender) was enacted in 2018. The French lyrics remain unaltered. "O Canada" had served as a de facto national anthem since 1939, officially becoming the country's national anthem in 1980 when Canada's National Anthem Act received royal assent and became effective on July 1 as part of that year's Dominion Day (now known as Canada Day) celebrations.

O Canada
Lyrics

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

The words of the original poem of 1908 by Stanley Weir are as follows:

O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love thou dost in us command.
We see thee rising fair, dear land,
The True North, strong and free;
And stand on guard, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

Refrain
O Canada! O Canada!
O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.
O Canada! We stand on guard for thee.

O Canada! Where pines and maples grow.
Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow.
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western Sea,
Thou land of hope for all who toil!
Thou True North, strong and free!

Refrain

O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies
May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,
To keep thee steadfast through the years
From East to Western Sea,
Our own beloved native land!
Our True North, strong and free!

Refrain

Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our dominion within thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the Better Day,
We ever stand on guard.

Refrain
Original Poem by Judge, R. Stanley Weir, 1908

Music by: Calixa Lavallée