Are you serious?

“It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue.” —John Adams

Are you serious, Mr. Adams?
Elevate and exalt?
Accelerate and animate?
Excite to excel?
In this day and age? You can't be serious.

Recently, we've listened to a biography of John and Abigail Adams. John Adams (our second president) was a deep thinker; Abigail a visionary. She was truly the "wind beneath his wings." They were apart much of the time because it took days to travel by coach from their home to Philadelphia, the capital city. Abigail stayed home, ran the farm, and raised the children. Mr. Adams' salary was so meager, he couldn't afford a house while Congress was in session. Enough history, already!

What I was intrigued with was the challenge of Adam's powerful statement. You and I should care enough for the children in our worlds to elevate their minds and exalt their courage. We ought to make it our purpose to accelerate and animate the industry and activity of today's youth, creating in them the wonder and joy of life and the satisfaction that comes with doing an honest day's work.

It takes special effort to excite today's children about much of anything, to say nothing of passing on the desire to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. And on top of that to help them have a "contempt for meanness and an abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity..." Tall order, right? Wow!!

Thank you, Mr. Adams, for stating the vision of grace in ACTION usa so beautifully. This is exactly what we want God to do through GiA.

Will you pray? Will you teach? Will you challenge today's children who have no one to care enough to excite them to excel?

The flip side of trust

Got trust? Great! Me, too! Trust in the Lord. But I'm learning ~ isn't there always something more to learn? ~ that there's a flip side to trust that may be harder than the trusting. The other side of the trust coin is wait.

For me, trusting isn't difficult. God gave me a trusting nature. I trust everyone until they give me a reason not to. I know that's not true for many who find trusting a very difficult thing to do.

And that's even true when it comes to the waiting if I'm waiting on the Lord. But!! Waiting on the Lord often involves waiting on people. That's where I have a problem. (Acknowlege - confess) I gladly wait on you, Lord, but I don't want to wait on Jim, Mike, Dan, Sandy, Doug ~ and the others you've put on my trust path! You're dependable; they may be dependable but they're too busy to do what I'm waiting for. You're never on overload; they've said yes to one too many people ~ and I'm the last one on the list. You're . . .

So, are you going to trust me, or not? If it means I have to wait another week? Well, truthfully, I don't want to. I want to take things in my own hands and just do it!

Wait on the Lord; don't give up hope. I repeat~ wait on the Lord. Wait on Jim; don't give up hope. I repeat! Wait on Jim and Mike and Dan and Sandy and....