President's Day

Tomorrow is President's Day and as we look back we can remember the Presidents who made a  positive difference in our country and in the world. 

What have we learned from these leaders from long ago? In an article written by Jackie Cushman, writer for Creaters Syndicate, she explored how Washington and Lincoln shaped the country. 

Washington stated, according to Jackie Cushman, "Throughout his service to the country, Washington recognized it was not about him, but about our country." This is something our current leaders could apply today. So many decisions today are made about party lines, politics, money, power, personal gain, and business interests. The good of the country and its members takes a back seat.

Lincoln, who held the country together during a civil war, in a private letter September 1862 wrote, "The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be and one must be wrong.  God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party--and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect his purpose.--Lincoln closed his address by reaching out to the Confederacy (the losers) and reminding the Union (the winners) that victory should be accompanied by grace. With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right of God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in..." 

This could be written about our situation today in our government. In an article by Mark K. Updegrove, he reminds us of President Carter, who was the first former U.S. President to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to him for his "decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights and promote economic and social development."  He reported that Carter's teacher, Julia Coleman stated, "We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles." Updegrove states that Carter, in his next book. Faith,  will explore why we should have faith in things as wide-ranging as God, our government, democracy, freedom, honesty and our fellow man."  Let our government find God and justice in their work.