Some Wise Words from Jesse Stuart
When I was a teenager my father had a heart attack. Following his open heart surgery a neighbor stopped by and gave my Dad a copy of a book he thought would be helpful. My father was not much of a reader and I don’t think he ever got around to reading the book but for some reason I still remember the name and author of that book. It was The Year of My Rebirth by Jesse Stuart. Jesse Stuart was a well-known Kentucky author and when I got older I read several of his books. When I had my own heart attack and surgery recently I remembered the book that had been brought to my father and ordered a copy. I am so glad I did. In this book Stuart writes about his own heart attack in 1954 and the book ends up being a journal of his year of recovery. He writes a lot about nature and faith, the two things we try to focus on in this blog. In once section of the book Jesse Stuart offers a reflective piece of advice to his readers. I want to share that advice with you here.
“If a man continues to think in low terms, he will soon be living just at the level of his thoughts. Man should listen to a piece of fine music each day, he should read a good poem, story, or novel. And it will profit him to read a portion of the Old or New Testament each day. These were the things I had time to do now. One should look for the beauty in the daisy petal in the pasture field instead of looking over his fine breed of cattle and calculating how much a pound they will average. One should stop and listen to the spring winds in the April leaves. One should love the touch of the eternal dirt from which we are all created, and the beauty of a star in the sky, and the sad refrain of winter winds in the dead leaves. One should see beauty in the fluffy flakes of snow falling in barren timber and, in another season, the aroma of different wild flowers, the lean shape of blossom and leaf. There is so much to elevate our thoughts in each of our private worlds that we should never stoop to thoughts of despising, hurting, cheating, taking advantage of our fellow man.”
Stuart’s rural pastoral setting may be foreign to you but there is wisdom here for all of us. What we think about, what we focus on day by day, truly does make a difference in our character and how we live our lives. Stuart’s words remind me of the apostle Paul’s admonition to the Philippians, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable —if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (4:7-8) Interestingly, Stuart urged us in this passage to pay attention to God’s two books—the Scriptures and Creation. He felt that by paying more attention to these we would be far better off. I couldn’t agree more.
In the final sentence of the passage quoted Stuart describes a scenario we are all too familiar with today, one where people despise, hurt, cheat and take advantage of one another. This is not what God intended for us. This is not how we are meant to live. Stuart suggests that the way to move beyond this is to direct our thoughts in a more positive direction. And he’s right; there truly is “much to elevate our thoughts in each of our private worlds” and we should be moving our thoughts in that direction. So today I, along with the late Jesse Stuart, would urge you to put your focus where it ought to be—on God’s two books. If more of us made an effort to do so I can’t help but believe it would truly make a difference.
–Chuck
(The pictures I’ve used here were taken in the Ozark Mountains in April a few years ago.)