By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield
In the early hours of dawn, oftentimes a mist appears circling the tall, majestic mountainous peaks of Mount Rushmore; like soft downy-white angel wings stroking the imposing sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln’s image is on our
five-dollar bill, and his imposing stance is always on display, and can be seen
in Washington D.C. The light of the Lincoln Memorial shines across the Tidal
Basin as you paddle by.
Upon visiting the memorial, Lincoln’s bigger-than-
life statue looks down at each bystander with that paternal, thoughtful gaze seen
in many photos. Every element of Lincoln was carefully created. For instance,
one hand is clenched as it rests upon the chair arm. This displays his
determination to see the war through. The other hand is open as it rests upon
the arm of his chair. For me, it depicted Lincoln ready to jump out of that chair,
to protect his beloved country, may need arise.
Lincoln, of all people, would be shocked that his popularity mushroomed throughout the portals of history and into the twenty-first century. During most of his lifetime, he was considered a country bumpkin, a business and social failure.
There are often mixed interpretations
pertaining to the word perseverance. Webster’s definition is: In pursuing a
dream despite difficulty of delay in achieving success.
If there was any one person in history
whom this word could be relatable to, that would be Abraham Lincoln. He began
with nothing. Only through faith and perseverance did he achieve success.
Abraham Lincoln was born on February
12, 1809, near Holdenville, Kentucky, in a one room log cabin. He was taught to
read by the loving hands of his gentle and godly mother.
In
1816, at seven years old, Abe went to work to help his family. Two years later,
in 1818, his mother, Nancy, died from poisoned milk.
Thomas, Abe’s father, left the children for seven months. Their cabin had a dirt floor with no door to shut against the noises of the panther’s screams and the bears’ roars. Their one room cabin was a crude dwelling, somewhat resembling what Rachael and Jonathan had to live in my novel Wilted Dandelions in the 1830s living in the wilds of western Oregon.
When their new stepmother, Sarah, came
back with their father, Sarah described the children as wild, ragged, and
dirty.
In 1828, just ten years after their
mother died, Abe’s sister passed away.
Raised
in the backwoods, going to school was thought of as a convenience. Education
was afforded by the children of middle to upper-class families. The Lincolns
were dirt poor, and Abe was privileged to a year of schooling.
His illiterate father saw no need for
an education for his children. Hard work was his task maker. Oftentimes, he
would catch young Abe wasting time thinking or reading a book. If Thomas was in
a bad mood, he would rip up the pages of that book and on occasion whip him.
But this did not dampen Lincoln’s thirst for learning. He became a self-taught
lawyer, and he enjoyed the thought-provoking words of Thomas Paine’s book The
Age of Reason.
Abe
had a love and respect for God that his mother bequeathed him. He had a
foreboding fear of God, his father’s lashing tongue and hard, relentless hands
implanted into Abe’s young and impressionable mind. This left an indelible mark
upon his heart which took years to eradicate.
Abe often said, “…I have never denied
the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never spoken with intentional
disrespect of religion in general, or of any denomination of Christians in
particular.”
Lincoln stood six feet four inches tall. He
towered over other men. The average man in the 1800s measured around five feet
seven inches in height. Yet, Abraham Lincoln always appeared to come up short, whether
in his business pursuits or his political ventures.
He
opened his first business, a General Store in 1831, which went bankrupt due to
his partner’s dealings. He spent seventeen years paying the debt and acquired
the nickname of “Honest Abe.”
Then
Abe decided to run for the legislation, and he lost miserably in 1832.
In 1833 he borrowed money to begin
another business, and this too went bankrupt. Honest Abe paid back the money. People
began noticing him. They could not help respecting this backwoodsman who
sported a self-deprecating humor, who had a knack for storytelling.
His love for music, poetry, and books
seemed to bring him the right attention with the opposite sex, when in 1835 he met
a godly woman named Ann Rutiedge, they fell in love and became engaged. Then she
suddenly died of typhoid fever.
In 1842 he met Mary Todd. They fell in love and married. Mary saw potential in her husband, knowing Abe would be an honest and trustworthy politician, so she encouraged Abe to run for Congress. But in 1843, he lost. Lincoln tried again and in 1845, ran for the Senate and lost again.
Discouraged, Lincoln went back to
circuit riding as a lawyer in Illinois. While Mary tended to the house and took
care of their romping and fun-loving sons, who would eventually consist of four.
But tragedy would again poke its ugly head into Lincoln’s life when three of
those sons would die.
See next month’s December issue for
the conclusion.
Wilted Dandelions: Rachael is ready to leave her luxurious life in Buffalo, New York, to share the gospel with the Native Americans in the Oregon Territory. But the Missionary Alliance requires their missionaries to be married. Rachael agrees to a marriage of convenience with a man she hardly knows and learns God does not create coincidences—He designs possibilities.
“I loved this quote… ‘I’m still such a babe in Christ. Will I ever stop seeking my desires and reasoning it is God’s will that I satisfy my own whims?’ Can you relate?” Grandaddy A.
Catherine is the award-winning author of Wilted Dandelions, Swept into Destiny, Destiny’s Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, Waltz with Destiny and Love's Final Sunrise. She has written two pictorial history books, The Lapeer Area and Eastern Lapeer, and short stories for Guideposts Books, CrossRiver Media Group, Revell Books, Bethany House Publishers. Catherine and her husband of fifty-two years live on a ranch in Michigan and have two adult children, five grandchildren, four Arabian horses, three dogs, four cats, six chickens, and three bunnies. See CatherineUlrichBrakefield.com for more information.
https://lightmagazine.ca/abraham-lincolns-freeing-encounter-with-christ/
https://nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/memorial-features.htm
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