I was sitting at my computer reading the following when I heard thunder. Rather a propos. And then it started raining. What a wonderful sound. Not a lot, but some. I prayed that it was raining up in Georgia and around Florida where the fires are, but I prayed that they weren't having any lightning.
Steve Goodier sends out an e-mail weekly with good food for thought. Here is his offering for this week
MORE LIGHT AND LESS NOISE
A great story from one of America's greatest story-tellers, Abraham Lincoln, was related by the president during those anxious days of the American Civil War. A delegation of well-meaning patriots tried to impress upon the president the gravity of the war. They implied that his administration was neither as wise nor good as it ought to be.
He listened carefully, then responded with a memorable anecdote. He told them that he once had a neighbor who found himself in a tight situation. He was traveling home one dark and rainy night. There were few bridges in the country and he came to a stream that he would have to ford. But because of the darkness and the rain, he couldn't see well enough to know just where to cross. Lightning flashed and he saw his way for the briefest moment. But the man was perplexed because there seemed to be more thunder than lightning. He was convinced that every lightning flash was followed by several loud peals of thunder.
The poor man just stood at the edge of the stream in his confusion about how to proceed. He finally prayed, "O Lord, if it is just the same to you, give me more light and less noise." The delegation clearly got the point that the president needed mo resolutions and less complaining - more light and less noise.
Some people are more like light and others are more like noise. Some people shed light on solutions. Others only make a din about the way things are. Some people help us to see the situation more clearly. Others just sound off about who's to blame. Some people show a better way. Others clamor about the present course of action. Some people offer to help. Others wail about the problem.
The sun rises every morning and sheds light, vanquishing the night's darkness. The rooster also rises every morning and makes noise, which does nothing about the darkness. How could things be different if you were more like the sun than the rooster? What if you decided today to contribute to the light?-- Steve Goodier
3 comments:
This post of his is the perfect answer to and foil for some of the pessimistic emails I get nearly everyday. I am going to save it in my email folder and whenever I get one of those emails complaining about illegal aliens, the war, etc., I will send this out as a reply!!!
Thanks Beverly.
We almost universally think of Lincoln as one of the greatest and wisest Presidents... any yet in his own time he was hounded by those calling him a country bumpkin.... suddenly I feel like we are in a parallel universe... deja vu....
Hopefully, some will get the point as those naysayers in his day did.
I love this anecedote! How true it is. I am so very tired of all the whining and complaining and blaming going. Those making the biggest stink over it all are also the very ones offering no solutions. I guess it just makes them feel better to complain. It's a very selfish way to live.
I agree with Roxanne - Lincoln was thought to be not very bright, just as Truman, Reagan and now Bush. History has shown a different light on the first two.
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