The Impossible
Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
St. Francis of Assisi
Tragedy of Life
The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
Richard L. Evans, Bits & Pieces, March 4, 1993, p. 2
World Record
Kim Linehan holds the world record in the Women’s 1500-meter freestyle. According to her coach, Paul Bergen, the 18-year-old is the leading amateur woman distance swimmer in the world. Kim does endless exercises and swims 7 to 12 miles a day. The hardest part of her regimen? “Getting in the water,” she says.
From Texas Monthly, quoted in Reader’s Digest, June 1981
Humble
• The first electric light was so dim that a candle was needed to see its socket.
• One of the first steamboats took 32 hours to chug its way from New York to Albany, a distance of 150 miles.
• Wilbur and Orville Wright’s first airplane flight lasted only 12 seconds.
• And the first automobiles traveled 2 to 4 miles per hour and broke down often. Carriages would pass them with their passengers shouting, “Get a horse!”
Source unknown
What’s New?
On a plaque marking Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace near Hodgenville, Kentucky, is recorded this scrap of conversation:
“Any news down ‘t the village, Ezry?” “Well, Squire McLain’s gone t’ Washington t’ see Madison swore in, and ol’ Spellman tells me this Bonaparte fella has captured most o’ Spain.
What’s new out here, neighbor?” “Nuthin’ nuthin’ a’tall, ‘cept fer a new baby born t’ Tom Lincoln’s. Nothin’ ever happens out here.”
Some events, whether birthdays in Hodgenville (or Bethlehem) or spiritual rebirth in a person’s life, may not create much earthly splash, but those of lasting importance will eventually get the notice they deserve.
Source unknown
Resource
• Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel, Word, 1987, p.69