Criticism and the Beehive

[249 words] It is said that someone reported to Abraham Lincoln that Edwin Stanton, one of the President’s cabinet members, had referred to him as a fool. Mr. Lincoln replied, “Well, I must check into that, for I have found that he is usually correct in his judgments.”  This indicated President Lincoln’s great capacity to handle criticism. Instead of returning criticism for the insult, President Lincoln forgave Stanton. The end result is that Edwin Stanton became one of Lincoln’s closes allies.  Isn’t it amazing how prone to criticism we human beings are? We can find an excuse or reason to gripe about almost anything!  If you pick up a daily newspaper, you will read of multiple stories of unfair and often untrue criticism, and often outright slander. We see this harshness among nations, political parties, families, neighbors, etc. In James chapter 4, we observe that James not only raises the…