Gem for Friday
May 20
"Charity suffereth long (Love is patient), and is kind . . ."
(1 Corinthians 13:4)
(1 Corinthians 13:4)
One of President Abraham Lincoln's earliest political enemies, Edward M. Stanton, was extremely harsh and critical. On one speech, he called Lincoln a "low cunning clown." He also called Lincoln "the original gorilla." In fact, in another speech Stanton said, "it was ridiculous for people to go to Africa to see a gorilla when they could find one just as easily in Springfield, Illinois." How hurtful would that be if that was said publicly about you? Yet Lincoln never responded to that slander. He never spoke a word against him. He never retaliated. He never criticized him! Why? Because love is patient.
Lincoln never responded to Edwin M. Stanton, who attacked him repeatedly. He refused to reciprocate the slander. But when he was elected president and he needed a secretary of war, guess whom he chose? He chose Edwin M. Stanton, the man who heartlessly defamed and disgraced Lincoln. When his incredulous friends asked Lincoln why he had made this choice, he said, "Because he is the best man."
Years later, as the slain president's body lay in state, Edwin M. Stanton looked into the coffin and said through his tears, "There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen." His animosity was finally broken by Lincoln's long-suffering, nonretaliatory spirit. Love is patient, kind, and a powerful antidote to a critical attitude. (Selected)
N.J. Hiebert # 2253
