Reece Gardner: Today I Can
The tragedy that occurred last week at the school in Texas was horrific in every way, and our hearts go out to the many who are now suffering from this awful occurrence. May God provide comfort to all. It is incredibly difficult for us to understand how evil can reach this magnitude, and how we can have the strength to deal with it, but, as the beautiful old Hymn states, "We will understand it better by and by." Difficult days are ahead for those who lost precious loved ones in this nightmarish occurrence, and we pray that God will wrap His loving arms around them and give them Peace.
Difficult circumstances do occur at times in the lives of all of us, but if we look around us we will find many examples of people who overcame difficulties that were much worse than ours, such as Bob May, whom I wrote about a few years ago. As a young boy, Bob had been smaller than most children his age and was bullied and called derogatory names; however, he went on to complete college, married a loving wife, got a job as a copywriter for Montgomery Ward, and was blessed with a beautiful little girl. But this happiness was short-lived. His wife Evelyn's battle with cancer took all their savings, and she died just days before Christmas. Bob and his daughter moved to a small two-room apartment in Chicago.
He struggled to give hope to his child, but he couldn't even afford to buy her a Christmas gift; however, he made one - a storybook in which he had created an animal character in his mind and had told it to his daughter many times, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was this character and what was the story about? Well, it was Bob's own autobiography in fable form, a misfit outcast, a little reindeer named Rudolph, with a very shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his daughter on Christmas Day. And now, as Paul Harvey used to say, "The rest of the story."
A Montgomery Ward general manager saw the book and was so impressed with it that he purchased rights to print and distribute it to all the children visiting their many stores. By 1946, six million copies of the book had been distributed. A major publisher purchased rights to the book and it became an instant best-seller. Johnny Marks made a song out of it, which was released in 1949 and recorded by Gene Autry. It immediately rose to the top of the charts.
This story reminds me of these "Today I Can" passages: Today, I can complain about my health, OR I can celebrate being alive; Today I can moan that it's raining, OR I can be joyful about all that grows as a result of the rain; Today I can regret all that I don't have, OR I can rejoice in all the things I do have; Today I can worry about the people who don't care for me, OR I can be happy loving and being loved by those who do. May God bless and comfort those who are suffering today in Texas or anywhere else in the world. Lord, please give them Peace.
And now to close with a little humor: A man appeared before St. Peter at the gates of Heaven. "Have you done anything of particular merit?", St. Peter asked. The man was quick to say, "Absolutely. On a trip near Reno I met a group of bikers who were being rude to a lady. I told them to leave her alone, but they wouldn't listen. So I walked up to the biggest, meanest looking biker, knocked his bike over, and punched him in the face. I then yelled at him to back off or I would get even rougher with him." St. Peter was impressed, and asked, "When did this happen?", to which the man replied, "A couple of minutes ago!" HAVE A GREAT DAY!
