Some time ago, I was given a book about Abraham Lincoln. It sat parked on the runway for months, in line to take off behind a zillion other books I haven’t had time to read. But recently, I finally pulled it from the shelf and began reading through a section of quotations from old Abe.
I realize that writing a column about Abraham Lincoln is risky business in this neck of the woods and I may well be labeled a you-know-what Yankee, but I am trusting that wounds from the “Unpleasantness” have healed and we can all appreciate good wise words, regardless of their source. If you are deeply Southern and inherited an intense dislike for Lincoln, remember that truth is truth and God spoke to the prophet Baalam through a donkey.
And now for a small sampling of Abe’s wise words …
“It is better to remain silent and thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” – Perhaps this famous line was actually Lincoln’s personal paraphrase of Proverbs 17:28 – “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.” I don’t do silence very well, but maybe, like exercise and other painful things, it’s a discipline one can develop. And maybe like coffee and other acquired tastes, it can even become enjoyable.
“When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act is if he were fighting bees.” – I don’t presume to know exactly what Abe was trying to say here — it’s a bit hard for me to visualize — but maybe he felt that if you believe something is true, you should it communicate it with passion. Perhaps it’s the same message being conveyed in Revelation 3:15-16: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” God is no wimp and His love for us is anything but passive and tepid. When He does something, it is with all of His perfect heart. When we ponder and talk about God’s wonderful plan of salvation for us through Jesus Christ, it ought to fire us up. If it gets us so cranked we look like we’re fighting bees, that’s great. I guess Abe thought so, and I bet God does, too.
“All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother.” – No real mystery here, especially for us angel mothers. And no real reason to include it in this column, except on the off-chance that my sons might read it. A timely reminder never hurts.
“I have come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying and for this reason: I can never be satisfied with anyone who would be blockheaded enough to have me.” – Abe obviously changed his mind and ended up marrying Mary Todd, but I appreciate the humility of this quote. When I’m picking up dirty socks and cleaning whiskers off the bathroom sink for the kazillionth time, it’s healthy for me to remember that it’s a miracle that someone would be “blockheaded enough to have me.” Given our selfish bents and quirks, perhaps none of really deserves to be loved “‘til death does us part,” but many of us are. And better than that, all of us are loved well beyond that by Someone who’s anything but a “blockhead.” His name is Jesus. He knows us inside and out and He loves us anyway — never more or less than He does right now. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” as it says in Romans 5:8. Just amazing.
No matter what you think about him as a person or his decidedly difficult place in history, Abe Lincoln said some smart things, probably because he knew where to go for direction – to the God of all wisdom and His Word.
It would surely serve us well to do the same.