January 31, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Wednesday, January 31.
I've been musing this morning about the fickleness of fame. Most of us, at one time or another, dream of becoming famous. And we assume that all it takes is talent. History, however, tells us that this assumption is often false.
Emily Dickinson is considered to be one of America's greatest poets. But she only managed to publish ten poems. Edgar Allan Poe, a giant of American literature, was never able to make a living as a writer. Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting in his life, for the equivalent of nine dollars. His work, "Starry Night", is now estimated to be worth in excess of 100 million dollars. And Johann Sebastian Bach, during his lifetime, was regarded, when regarded at all, as only an organist. is compositions were largely ignored until a century after his death, when they became recognized as the pinnacle of music. The list goes on and on. Fickle fame.
And then there is this...
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held public office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place where he was born. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. But all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the governments that ever ruled, all the kings that ever reigned - put together - have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully... as this one solitary life.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
