GOODWILL TOWARD ALL MEN

Just one more thought that I was touched by today.  As you  may have heard, one of the children lost in Connecticut last week was a sweet 6-year-old member of the church.  Read what her Stake President had to say - it's so touching. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765618130/Witnessing-grief-and-compassion-in-Newtown.html

"Grief, while heartbreaking, can also give rise to powerful acts of compassion. By the time Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, the American Civil War had claimed roughly 750,000 lives, resulting in 37,000 widows and 90,000 orphans. Why did God allow such devastation? It was a question Lincoln had pondered. Plus, there were many in Washington who wanted to punish the Confederates for all the carnage. Against that backdrop, Lincoln said:

 

" 'With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.'

 

"One month later, Lincoln was assassinated. But those words — 'with malice toward none' — live on."

 

The Savior knew that one of his own would betray him, and yet he continued on in his great work - the salvation of all mankind. This gives us all hope in trying times that we have the capacity to continue on, providing comfort to those who mourn, and spreading the light of Christ and the gospel to all the world (or at least Washougal!).