I Would Pick More Daisies



When the late Nadine Stair of Louisville, Kentucky, was 85 years old, she was asked what she would do if she had her life to live over again.

"I'd make more mistakes next time," she said. "I'd relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been on this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I'd have fewer imaginary ones.

"You see, I'm one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I'd have more of them. In fact, I'd try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I've been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, and a raincoat. If I had to do it over again, I would travel lighter than I have.

"If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds and I would pick more daisies."
by Don Herold (Adapted)

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Matthew 6:26-30



Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday.  He was born this day in 1809, not far from Hodgenville, Kentucky, on a place called Sinking Spring Farm.  He was an average kid who loved hunting, fishing, and playing.  He learned a dislike of slavery from his parents who, when he was seven years old, moved from Kentucky across the state line into Indiana, in large part because of the slavery issue. When Abraham (he didn't like to be called Abe) was 8 years old his mother died from milk sickness.  Before she died, she told her children, "be good and kind to your father, to one another and to the world."  He never talked about her death except many years later in a letter to a child whose mother had recently died, when he said, "In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all; and, to the young, it comes with bitterest agony, because it takes them unawares...I have had experience enough to know what I say."

What a beginning for this much beloved man!  Was this beginning preparing him for the huge challenge that lay ahead of him?  Was God, in His own way, setting the stage for the man who would take the helm of our country in it's greatest time of turmoil and despair?  Only He knows for sure, but I like to believe that beginnings (or middles) like these show us that we can face tremendously difficult times and find our way through them, as long as we allow God to hold us in His hand and guide us. 

My son and I were fortunate to visit Springfield, Illinois several years ago.  We visited Lincoln's library and his home.  For its time, it was very nice. It was not what you would expect for a president of the United States.  We had just visited Mount Vernon.  It was spectacular!  The Lincoln home was a home, like any other. As I stood there in the foyer, listening for the sounds of the Lincoln children and Mary, looking at Abe's chair in the living room, I tried to imagine what he must have been thinking when he left there to become our president.  We all know now, that he had always had a foreboding that something terrible would happen to him.  Was he prepared for the challenges ahead?  How do you prepare for something like that?

I just know that standing in his home I could feel the strength of his character, his love of his family and his love for his country.  I can't really tell you why, but I got choked up standing there.  I can't answer the questions that I've posed here.  What I can do is to be grateful he was here.  I can be grateful that he was the one in the right place, at the right time. 

Was it his beginnings that made it all possible?  Do our beginnings determine where we go and what we accomplish in this life?  I believe that they do-good or bad.  What comes from them is determined by our faith in God and the choices we make.  For my part, I'm glad Mr. Lincoln made the choices he did.  I thank you, Mr. President, and Happy Birthday!