This is a quote that reminds me of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others of our Founding Fathers—Uncommon Heroes:

“Something Very Beautiful happens to a people when their world has fallen apart: A Humility. A Nobility. A Higher Intelligence Emerges at just the point when our knees hit the Floor.” –Marianne Williamson

The world had fallen apart for these men, and they came to the rescue with humility, nobility, and a belief in the support of a Higher Intelligence. Their knees often hit the floor.

They were reminded of that in the speech Benjamin Franklin gave at the Constitutional Convention when all seemed to be coming undone. He took the floor and said, speaking to the President of that Convention:

“Mr. President, [he said after days of bickering over the principles of the new Constitution] the small progress we have made is methinks a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the human understanding. . . . In this situation in this Assembly grasping . . . in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our Understandings?

“ . . . I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the earth without His notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without His aid?”

As a direct result of this speech by the oldest and wisest of the Founding Fathers, the Conventioneers began listening closer to each other, really listening, and the arguments began to cease. As a Result, we have our grand document, The Constitution of the United States.

Do you see the pattern? Something beautiful came out of the minds and hands of these men when it seemed their world had fallen apart. They found a Humility. A Nobility. And applied to a Higher Intelligence from their knees. Their petition was granted.

I believe that we can do the same now as both individuals and as a Nation.