Wednesday; November 25

Sarah Josepha Hale is known for several things, but two of them seem to stand out above the rest. Hale may be best known for penning the poem, “Mary Had A Little Lamb”; but her influence may be most obviously felt on the last Thursday of each November. Among those associated with developing a national day of Thanksgiving, Hale’s name is quite prevalent. For over a decade she led the campaign for a president to enact a national day of thanks, but it wasn’t until President Abraham Lincoln did it in 1863 that it became a part of the national calendar. Those of us who enjoy Thanksgiving probably owe her (and President Lincoln) a word of thanks.

As I was reading up on Mrs. Hale, I came across an interesting quote attributed to her, “I’ve learned to judge of men by their own deeds; I do not make the accident of birth the standard of their merit.”. Now, before we get too deep into the weeds on this, I am not advocating that people’s birth and entrance into the world is an accident or act of random fate, but what intrigued me about the comment was the need to leave a legacy. Lives begin with a fresh slate and it is up to us to create a masterpiece. While we have all been offered equal protection under the law, we are not all created equally (sorry Mr. Jefferson) so the issue at hand isn’t fairness or equality, our calling as individuals is to do something with our lives. We all start out being born, after that we have the opportunity and need to make our lives matter by making our world better.
What are we doing with the chance we have been given? We never know when the curtain will fall on our final act – have we given the performance of our lifetime?
Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more