Good morning, Cherished Friends,
Mark Polenski of the Imagine Church family recently shared with me this story about the quintessential American inventor Thomas Edison that I had not known previously.
As a small child, one day young Thomas Edison came home from school and handed an envelope to his mother. He said to her, “My teacher gave this to me and told me only you are supposed to read it. Can you tell me what it says?”
His mother opened the envelope, unfolded the letter, and took a moment to read it silently, her eyes welling with tears. She then looked at her child, wiped her eyes, and said, “Yes, Son, I will read it to you.” She said, “Here is what it says: Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have the proper teachers to train him. You will have to keep him at home and teach him yourself.”
As you know, Thomas Edison went on to become one of the greatest inventors of the century. Some years after his mother had died, Edison was going through a closet and found the envelope containing the letter his teacher had sent home with him many years earlier, the one he had given his mother to read. Edison opened it and became emotional upon reading it. Written there were words nothing like what his mother had told him. The letter actually read, “Your son is mentally deficient. We ask you not to send him to school any longer. You will have to keep him at home.” Thomas Alva Edison may have been labeled a mentally deficient child, but he went on to become the genius of his century.
In the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul wrote, “Love endures all things, hopes all things, believes all things, trusts all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Our hearts are drawn to words of affirmation from those who believe the best about us. If you want to extend grace into someone else’s life, it’s wise to find a way to look for, and expect the best, instead of assuming the worst. A positive word of encouragement can help change anyone’s destiny.
Let’s always believe the best and not assume the worst,
Bruce Jones,
Pastor Imagine Church
