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Man at
Radio - FDR Memorial
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God
is not indecisive about whether I am worthy of love. On the
contrary, even in spite of my sinfulness, God says yes to my
worth.... To fallen and sinful people, God continually says yes. We
might shy away from a homeless person or a starving man in Haiti or a
woman dying of AIDS in Uganda or a child who rummages through a
landfill searching for clothes. But to all of these and to all of us,
God says yes. (The Upper Room "God's Amazing Yes" by
Gregg Bunn, February 5, 2013).
When
I look back over my life and identify those people I especially
cherish, they are inevitably those people who have said yes to me--to
my worth as an individual. Whether it be a warmly remembered teacher
or chaplain, a casual acquaintance or virtual stranger or friend--or
Jesus himself--it is those who have said yes to me that have most
positively impacted my life. Jesus said yes to people accustomed to
hearing the opposite. In the Beatitudes some of those he found
blessed were the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the
merciful, the pure in heart, those who are insulted, persecuted, or
falsely accused. These he found to be the salt of the earth, the
light of the world.
Under
the leadership of those who have said yes to me, I have thrived:
under the teacher who said yes to me years ago and brought out my
best in effort and creativity then and even now; under the chaplain
(now deceased) who was convinced I had something to offer and thereby
invested much faith in me; under the passing stranger whose kind
words encapsulated a moment in time--a memorable tableau underwriting
my self-worth even now. Leadership at its best entails the quality
of yes. Think of FDR in the dark days of the Great Depression: his
cheerful affirmation--his yes to the American people--had a profound
and uplifting impact.
Of
course, it is not only God and well-meaning people who can say yes to
us, the devil and his crew can say yes as well and in doing so offer
lurid temptations. In his employ can be the gang leader who
cynically offers the down-and-out a sense of self-worth through
ensnarling them in cruelty and lawlessness. We can tell the
difference between God and the devil by their fruit--divine outcomes
are positive and further well-being and self-worth while evil ones
cloak hatred within a charade of kindness.
from The
People, Yes
By
Carl Sandburg
Lincoln?
He
was a mystery in smoke and flags
Saying
yes to the smoke, yes to the flags,
Yes
to the paradoxes of democracy,
Yes
to the hopes of government
Of
the people by the people for the people,
No
to debauchery of the public mind,
No
to personal malice nursed and fed,
Yes
to the Constitution when a help,
No
to the Constitution when a hindrance
Yes
to man as a struggler amid illusions,
Each
man fated to answer for himself:
Which
of the faiths and illusions of mankind
Must
I choose for my own sustaining light
To
bring me beyond the present wilderness?
Lincoln?
Was he a poet?
And
did he write verses?
“I
have not willingly planted a thorn
in
any man’s bosom.”
I
shall do nothing through malice: what
I
deal with is too vast for malice.”
Death
was in the air.
So
was birth.
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