Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The plans of the diligent lead to profit
    as surely as haste leads to poverty.

• Proverbs 21:5

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

• Colossians 3:23

The New Boilerplate

My wife filled a small book with “Angel” on the cover.  It was hidden with a box of crafting things.  On 18 July 2025, I thought I had posted the last of these.  But this little angel book held a prayer, followed by 71 quotes.  So, the “with a little help” series is back in business for a while.  And it will be fun for me.  She did not attribute any of the quotes.  The first quote was from James A. Garfield, the 20^th president of the USA.  The next one was disputed, with some thinking it originated with Teddy Roosevelt and others saying Fred Astaire.  After the prayer, these might be on the lighter side.

Her quote

“Wisdom and penetration are the fruits of experience, not the Lessons of retirement and leisure.”

• Abigail Adams

The Discussion

Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams.  Their son, John Quincy Adams, received this quote in a letter from his mother.  Abigail and her husband wrote back and forth during John’s travels in establishing the country now known as the USA.  She was a woman of letters and sage advice.  She was noted for her strong Christian beliefs and her wisdom.  Until the two George Bushes came along.  The husband and son of Abigail Adams were the only Father-Son duo as president of the United States of America.

In this quote, it almost breaks the mold on my wife’s list of posts about aging.

This one does not poke fun at aging or expound the glories of aging.

Rather, it speaks of what is important for someone at any age.  We are to be wise, and we are to persevere and get the job completed, at least most of the research that I made on this quote seemed to focus on that being the meaning of penetration in this context.

My wife had and I have a temperament that causes us to start many projects.  One of the hardest things that I have faced since her passing has been to sift through all the projects that were incomplete.  She simply lost the physical ability to keep up with what her heart was telling her to do.

My wife’s heart went out to others.  She did things for the nieces and nephews and church friends.  But as her health got worse, her heart never changed.  That was when her “penetration” began to waver.

When she passed, she said that I could spend more time writing, and I have.  I have followed in her footsteps.  The work is always there when you have a heart for others.  Leisure just means that you do not get paid for the work that you do.  There really is not anything called retirement when God spurs you on to help others.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory