a thought

mastering our moods

After an interview with someone, Abraham Lincoln remarked to his secretary, "I don't like that man's face."

His secretary reacted in amazement, "But that's what his face is; he's not responsible for his face."

And Lincoln replied tartly, "After forty, every man is responsible for his face."

My face is the mirror of my moods. After four decades of dying and rising, I should have acquired sufficient emotional maturity to master my moods and maintain a tranquil facial expression. I think that's what Honest Abe was implying.

I would not be writing this little chapter if a woman had not asked me this morning, "Why are you in such a rotten mood?"

All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15

~Brennan Manning, Reflections for Ragamuffins, p. 149