“The Hope of America”
By Jerry Stewart
There’s a lot of talk today in our America about this word, “hope”. Some believe that our hope is in one political party or in one person. But where should our hope be? Consider these words of Abraham Lincoln. He has been named the most successful president in our U.S. history.
It was over 150 years ago when our nation divided and our Civil War took so many brave American lives. During that terrible time, President Lincoln had one hope, one desire – to save America. But his hope was not based on shallow dreams or wishful thinking. His hope was based on concepts and ideals and principles and a faith in Someone he knew to be bigger than him; principles and ideals which would, with God’s help, save our America.
But what are the principles and ideals Mr. Lincoln would direct us to now during our own terrible times?
He would say, first of all, it is up to each of us to do the work. Sadly, here in America today we have become a nation of mostly followers. Sadly, so many of our citizens have given in, we’ve determined that our answer, our solution, is in someone else’s hand. Once, Mr. Lincoln was asked about his grandfather and just what kind of man he was. Lincoln’s reply:
“Sir, I do not know so much about what my grandfather was; what I’m more concerned with is what his grandson will be.”
If Mr. Lincoln was here in America today he would say, don’t look to your left or your right, the answer is not there – the answer is in you. It is up to you to stand up for what is good and right and lasting. It is up to you to carry the torch, to show the way. If America is going to get back home, it’s up to you.
“But,” you say, “I’m only 1 person in one small town, what can I do?” It was patriot Thomas Paine who said:
“The biggest mistake you can make is to think that because you can only do a little, you do nothing.”
This is our first step to saving our America.
Next, Mr. Lincoln would talk to us about about the road we are on. Which road is the right road? The easiest? The hardest? And what difference does it make which road we take to get there?
In my office when things get hard and aren’t working right, when discouragement begins to come upon us, my response is, “If it was easy, everybody would do it.” In other words, don’t imagine that special things worth having are easily obtained, because they are not. The things that are truly worth having require sacrifice and hard work.
Once, after hearing a sermon, Abraham Lincoln was asked to comment on the sermon’s content. He remarked that the pastor’s delivery was good, the content was well-researched, but that the sermon lacked one very important part – it didn’t call the people to do something great. And today, the road we are being asked to go down is not one of greatness, it is one of mediocrity, we’re not being asked to be set apart, to be better. But the truth is this – we are to set a mark, a line, far above what we could even imagine, and to strive and fight and scrape, and pray that with God’s help we can rise to a higher level.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be France or England, or Japan, or Canada, I want to be America – the single greatest nation in the world. And the road to the top is hard. It will always be hard.
And, by the way, we are Americans, not American’s. I’m so tired of people telling me, telling us, we can’t do something. Don’t tell me that. Tell me that with God’s Help and Strength, and for the greater good, that nothing is impossible.
If Abraham Lincoln were here in America today, he would tell us, thirdly, that there is a rule of law in this nation and that this rule of law and respect for the law must be upheld. In 1838, as a young man of only 29, in one speech he gave, Abraham Lincoln said this:
“Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular the laws of this country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. Let every person remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own.”
And that’s exactly what is happening today in America. Some are being allowed to break the law and nothing happens. But the truth is this – the leaders of our nation are not privileged characters, somehow above the law because of their power or position. If they dodge their taxes, or abscond with funds, or lie under oath, they should receive the same justice as us all. That’s why Lady Justice is blindfolded and cannot see who stands before her. Justice is to be no respecter of persons. But, not today. Today the blindfold is off and so many, because of their position, get a free pass, and it’s tearing our nation apart.
Next Mr. Lincoln would tell us “Stop looking for the bad in people”. It was Abraham Lincoln who said: “If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it.”
Why should we stop looking for only the bad? Do this, give me one famous critic in history. You can’t. Why? Because critics get us nowhere. So many Americans today have all the talking points, all the ways to tear the other side down. They all sound good and cool and piercing, but before you tear something down, before you clean it out, you’d better know what’s going to be in its place; and to tear someone down is non-productive. Abe Lincoln would say quit wasting your time ripping into people. Instead, think of solutions, and resolutions, work and strive to be a redeemer, not a destroyer. Lift people up, don’t tear them down.
Now does that mean we stick our heads in the sand, or become doormats, or just give up? Of course not, but a crushed spirit is perhaps the least productive, the least creative spirit there is. Don’t crush people, be a positive thinker, look for solutions, lift people up – and you know what? When you do, they will listen.
Finally, if Abraham Lincoln was here today he would tell us that we need to turn back to God. How do I know? Because he said it on March 30, 1863 when he called for a National Day of Fasting in America. On that day he said:
“We have been the recipient of the choicest bounty of Heaven, we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But, we have forgotten God, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtues of our own. We have become too self-sufficient to feel His necessity, too proud to pray to the very God who made us.”
It was Ronald Reagan who said:
“If America ever becomes anything other than one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
When the Civil War started, one reporter asked President Lincoln, “Mister Lincoln, is God on your side in the war?” President Lincoln replied,
“Sir, it is not important that God be on my side, what I must do, what we must do, is to find where God is standing and be on His side.”
What must we do to save our America? Mr. Lincoln laid it out quite clearly. The question before you now is, “What will you do about it?”
One last thought – Abraham Lincoln believed so much in America that he was willing to give his life for it – how much do you believe in America?
See you next week!
Jerry Stewart
P.S. email me with your own thoughts and ideas regarding our America at admin@onemomentinamerica.com
JS
“The Hope of America”
By Jerry Stewart
There’s a lot of talk today in our America about this word, “hope”. Some believe that our hope is in one political party or in one person. But where should our hope be? Consider these words of Abraham Lincoln. He has been named the most successful president in our U.S. history.
It was over 150 years ago when our nation divided and our Civil War took so many brave American lives. During that terrible time, President Lincoln had one hope, one desire – to save America. But his hope was not based on shallow dreams or wishful thinking. His hope was based on concepts and ideals and principles and a faith in Someone he knew to be bigger than him; principles and ideals which would, with God’s help, save our America.
But what are the principles and ideals Mr. Lincoln would direct us to now during our own terrible times?
He would say, first of all, it is up to each of us to do the work. Sadly, here in America today we have become a nation of mostly followers. Sadly, so many of our citizens have given in, we’ve determined that our answer, our solution, is in someone else’s hand. Once, Mr. Lincoln was asked about his grandfather and just what kind of man he was. Lincoln’s reply:
“Sir, I do not know so much about what my grandfather was; what I’m more concerned with is what his grandson will be.”
If Mr. Lincoln was here in America today he would say, don’t look to your left or your right, the answer is not there – the answer is in you. It is up to you to stand up for what is good and right and lasting. It is up to you to carry the torch, to show the way. If America is going to get back home, it’s up to you.
“But,” you say, “I’m only 1 person in one small town, what can I do?” It was patriot Thomas Paine who said:
“The biggest mistake you can make is to think that because you can only do a little, you do nothing.”
This is our first step to saving our America.
Next, Mr. Lincoln would talk to us about about the road we are on. Which road is the right road? The easiest? The hardest? And what difference does it make which road we take to get there?
In my office when things get hard and aren’t working right, when discouragement begins to come upon us, my response is, “If it was easy, everybody would do it.” In other words, don’t imagine that special things worth having are easily obtained, because they are not. The things that are truly worth having require sacrifice and hard work.
Once, after hearing a sermon, Abraham Lincoln was asked to comment on the sermon’s content. He remarked that the pastor’s delivery was good, the content was well-researched, but that the sermon lacked one very important part – it didn’t call the people to do something great. And today, the road we are being asked to go down is not one of greatness, it is one of mediocrity, we’re not being asked to be set apart, to be better. But the truth is this – we are to set a mark, a line, far above what we could even imagine, and to strive and fight and scrape, and pray that with God’s help we can rise to a higher level.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be France or England, or Japan, or Canada, I want to be America – the single greatest nation in the world. And the road to the top is hard. It will always be hard.
And, by the way, we are Americans, not American’s. I’m so tired of people telling me, telling us, we can’t do something. Don’t tell me that. Tell me that with God’s Help and Strength, and for the greater good, that nothing is impossible.
If Abraham Lincoln were here in America today, he would tell us, thirdly, that there is a rule of law in this nation and that this rule of law and respect for the law must be upheld. In 1838, as a young man of only 29, in one speech he gave, Abraham Lincoln said this:
“Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular the laws of this country, and never to tolerate their violation by others. Let every person remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own.”
And that’s exactly what is happening today in America. Some are being allowed to break the law and nothing happens. But the truth is this – the leaders of our nation are not privileged characters, somehow above the law because of their power or position. If they dodge their taxes, or abscond with funds, or lie under oath, they should receive the same justice as us all. That’s why Lady Justice is blindfolded and cannot see who stands before her. Justice is to be no respecter of persons. But, not today. Today the blindfold is off and so many, because of their position, get a free pass, and it’s tearing our nation apart.
Next Mr. Lincoln would tell us “Stop looking for the bad in people”. It was Abraham Lincoln who said: “If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it.”
Why should we stop looking for only the bad? Do this, give me one famous critic in history. You can’t. Why? Because critics get us nowhere. So many Americans today have all the talking points, all the ways to tear the other side down. They all sound good and cool and piercing, but before you tear something down, before you clean it out, you’d better know what’s going to be in its place; and to tear someone down is non-productive. Abe Lincoln would say quit wasting your time ripping into people. Instead, think of solutions, and resolutions, work and strive to be a redeemer, not a destroyer. Lift people up, don’t tear them down.
Now does that mean we stick our heads in the sand, or become doormats, or just give up? Of course not, but a crushed spirit is perhaps the least productive, the least creative spirit there is. Don’t crush people, be a positive thinker, look for solutions, lift people up – and you know what? When you do, they will listen.
Finally, if Abraham Lincoln was here today he would tell us that we need to turn back to God. How do I know? Because he said it on March 30, 1863 when he called for a National Day of Fasting in America. On that day he said:
“We have been the recipient of the choicest bounty of Heaven, we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But, we have forgotten God, and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtues of our own. We have become too self-sufficient to feel His necessity, too proud to pray to the very God who made us.”
It was Ronald Reagan who said:
“If America ever becomes anything other than one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
When the Civil War started, one reporter asked President Lincoln, “Mister Lincoln, is God on your side in the war?” President Lincoln replied,
“Sir, it is not important that God be on my side, what I must do, what we must do, is to find where God is standing and be on His side.”
What must we do to save our America? Mr. Lincoln laid it out quite clearly. The question before you now is, “What will you do about it?”
One last thought – Abraham Lincoln believed so much in America that he was willing to give his life for it – how much do you believe in America?
See you next week!
Jerry Stewart
P.S. email me with your own thoughts and ideas regarding our America at admin@onemomentinamerica.com
JS
If you would like more information, please go to Jerry Stewart’s Web Site: Click on the link below.