Soaring Arcs and Tragic Troughs
As we write about characters from American history, we strive to write as patriotic Americans who tell the truth about our triumphs and tragedies, our successes and failures. America has heroes, but no perfect ones. We have no perfect heroes because of this basic Biblical truth:
. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . .
Romans 3:23
I recently read an excellent article published in The Jacksonian Gazette, the email newsletter of Andrew Jackson’s The Hermitage. This article by Howard J. Kittell was first published in the Nashville Tennessean newspaper. Kittell is President & CEO of the organization that operates Andrew Jackson’s home and estate as a museum and historic site. In the article, Kittell encourages people to respect the office of President of the United States. He encourages citizens to visit presidential homes, so they can better understand the demanding job of being President and thereby become better informed voters in the upcoming presidential election.
I appreciated Kittell’s insight in the following quote which he graciously gave me permission to reprint below. It struck a nerve with me because of the balance we try to maintain when we tell history’s stories:
At The Hermitage, we do not hide the fact that Andrew Jackson lived in a complicated time in our nation’s history. Whatever your opinion of him, what is important is to learn from his story, with all of its soaring arcs and tragic troughs.
Soaring arcs and tragic troughs characterize not only President Jackson, but every president and every citizen because of the truth in Romans 3. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God.
I agree about visiting presidential homes when you have the opportunity. Ray and I leave those sites with new insights into the presidents’ lives. It was on a tour of The Hermitage many years ago that we learned about Jackson’s faith late in life. Since that tour, I have enjoyed thinking about Jackson and his family gathering in the back parlor for evening devotionals.
We once had the privilege of visiting the home of President James Buchanan near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Many consider Buchanan, who served immediately before Abraham Lincoln, to be America’s worst president because he was not able to stop the Civil War. Having walked where Buchanan walked in his own home and hearing his story, I remember him with compassion. Being President is a hard job with millions of people watching and critiquing what you do. Kittell is right. We need to respect the office.
If your current homeschool days are like my homeschool days were, you experience soaring arcs and tragic troughs, too. Of course, they are rarely on the scale of the arcs and troughs of a President, but as a homeschooling mama, I know you feel those arcs and troughs keenly.
The successful homeschool mama climbs out of the troughs, by God’s grace, and makes fresh starts toward soaring arcs — again and again and again. Praise God that His grace is sufficient.
I waited patiently for the Lord;
And He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the Lord.
Psalm 40:1-3