Whether my life today is good or bad is really my choice. I can focus on the negative, or I can focus on the positive. The circumstances of today may be less than ideal, but my attitude will always determine whether or not people enjoy being in my presence and how I feel about the day.
I was reminded of that while reading Mary Custis Lee's diary entry for the close of the Civil War. For those of you who like me (until recently) are unaware of many historical details, Mary Custis Lee, the wife of Robert E. Lee, was the great-granddaughter of George Washington. The plantation where she and her husband lived, property formerly owned by the Washingtons, was taken from them during the Civil War, and as a punishment, was turned into a Union graveyard. That site is now Arlington National Cemetery. I have always heard about the supposed "great faith" of Robert E.Lee, and I was impressed with his wife's last war diary entry.
I struggle sometimes, with things I don't care to post on the world-wide blog, but things that are very real to me. When the outcomes are not what I want or have planned, may my attitude equal Mrs. Lee's attitude. May I desire to be submissive to God's plan and will, even when it's not what I want or worked towards. May my words 150 years from now inspire and challenge others to live a God-centered life, regardless of their circumstances. May my heartfelt prayer be for God's will to take place, and not my own. Amen, and amen.
I was reminded of that while reading Mary Custis Lee's diary entry for the close of the Civil War. For those of you who like me (until recently) are unaware of many historical details, Mary Custis Lee, the wife of Robert E. Lee, was the great-granddaughter of George Washington. The plantation where she and her husband lived, property formerly owned by the Washingtons, was taken from them during the Civil War, and as a punishment, was turned into a Union graveyard. That site is now Arlington National Cemetery. I have always heard about the supposed "great faith" of Robert E.Lee, and I was impressed with his wife's last war diary entry.
"...Tho' it has not pleased Almighty God to crown our exertions with success in the way and manner we expected, yet we must still trust and pray not that our will but His may be done in heaven and earth..."Wow. She recognizes her home is gone, her husband may spend his life as a prisoner because of his role in the war, her son has not yet come home or been heard from, the hardships she has endured for the last four years have been for nothing. And yet she recognizes that our prayer should be for God to orchestrate things the way HE would have them to be, and not the way we want them to be. That's so very timely for me.
I struggle sometimes, with things I don't care to post on the world-wide blog, but things that are very real to me. When the outcomes are not what I want or have planned, may my attitude equal Mrs. Lee's attitude. May I desire to be submissive to God's plan and will, even when it's not what I want or worked towards. May my words 150 years from now inspire and challenge others to live a God-centered life, regardless of their circumstances. May my heartfelt prayer be for God's will to take place, and not my own. Amen, and amen.
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Signed,
A Yankee in RTP-land