Sing Songs of Gratitude
On this beautiful Thanksgiving Day, We should be grateful that President Abraham Lincoln declared this day a national holiday. I have been impressed by the great blessings I have received in my life. Big and small. Some I didn’t think of as blessings at the time, still turned out for the best, or for my needed experience. Perhaps you feel the same.
That caused me to think of a song I learned in my youth. It goes something like this.
“When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings; name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
bookstore long ago. This bookstore sold used books and I bought this one. I don’t remember where or when. The book is “Ben Franklin’s Almanac of Wit, Wisdom and Practical Advice” with the sub title “Useful Tips and Fascinating Facts for Every Day of the Year” by the Eidtors of The Old Farmer’s Allmanac.”
I’m going to break with tradition a little bit tonite and quote a little bit from my upcoming book, “A Patriot in Prison.” I believe Patrick Henry will be proud of this book, since he was a great champion of the Grand Jury system—as it was in his day!
The tale is told of Dave Randall, who was once the Customer Relations Expert for Scribner’s Rare Book Department. Randall had tried relentlessly to obtain one of an old collector’s thirteen copies of Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. The owner stubbornly refused to let go of a single copy. He refused every overture attempted by Dave.
I want to wish all you Fathers a Happy Father’s Day, 2016! Being a father myself, I know how good it makes you feel to be acknowledged as a good father.
And James Madison, known as “The Father of the Constitution” also had no children of his own. He married Dolley Madison, who had children from a prior marriage, and who, like Martha Washington, was a widow when she married James Madison. He helped raise her children, but again they had no children together.
“I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.” –Martha Washington, First American First Lady, 1732-1802.