Thursday, February 12, 2009

Abraham and Jenny: Legacies of Perseverance


Both were worthy of great admiration.

Both were born on this day.
Jenny would have been 35 today.
Abraham would have been 200.
Both died too young.


Both left a legacy of inspiration through their words and deeds.
I've often come across the information about Abraham (posted below) and turn to it for strength in times of my own personal disappointments.


~~~Lincoln Faced Discouragement And Moved Beyond It~~~

A man whom many believe was the greatest American president is a good example.
When he was 7 years of age, his family was forced out of their home, and he went to work.
When he was 9, his mother died.
He lost his job as a store clerk when he was 20.
He wanted to go to law school, but he didn't have the education.
At age 23 he went into debt to be a partner in a small store.
Three years later the business partner died, and the resulting debt took years to repay.
When he was 28, after courting a girl for four years, he asked her to marry him, and she turned him down.
On his third try he was elected to Congress, at age 37, but then failed to be re-elected.
His son died at 4 years of age.
When this man was 45, he ran for the Senate and lost.
At age 47 he ran for the vice-presidency and lost.
But at age 51 he was elected president of the United States.


~~~~~~~
As for Jenny, she left behind her blog: www.mangymooseacres.blogspot.com.
I can turn to her words and to her wonderful memory as infusions of personal strength.
We all have benefited because these people and others like them have lived.

So, on their respective birthdays, we reflect upon the gift of their lives.

3 comments:

live love laugh hope said...

Looks like we are sharing thoughts this morning, along with all others who miss her.

Daddy-O said...

Well said, Marianne! I miss Jenny...especially today. I'll always remember, from a report back in grade school, that Jenny was so proud to share her birthday with Abe Lincoln.

CameronsCastle said...

My first (and last) thought yesterday was of Jenny. She once posted a quote by Honest Abe Lincoln on her blog: "Live a good life; in the end, it's not the years in a life, it's the life in the years."

Jenny was such an amazing example of that principle...