When Thomas Lincoln, Abraham’s father, sought to remarry after the death of his first wife, he traveled to Elizabethtown Kentucky from Illinois to ask Sarah Bush Johnston to be his wife and mother to his two children, ten year old Abraham and his twelve year old sister Sarah. Thomas left the children alone in an unfinished cabin for months in one of the worst winters Illinois had ever experienced.

When Thomas and his new wife arrived , the cabin and the children were dirty and cold and hungry. Sarah’s first act was to unload a tub and give baths and delousing to both children. They stayed wrapped in her quilts until she had washed and dried their clothes. The children had survived on rabbits and squirrels that Abraham caught, and occasional gifts from neighbors. They had carefully made sure their fire never went out.

Sarah brought a wagon load of furniture and foods to the cabin. Over night the lives of two shivering children began to change. Sarah, who could not read or write, insisted that Abraham and Sarah be educated, She prevailed on their father to install a wooden floor, a loft, and to finish the cabin so that snow and rain could be kept out. She had braided a rug for the floor, and brought a small stack of books to the home. She hoped that Abraham would learn to read the Bible to her in the evenings.

Those who knew Sarah said that she had a steady sense of humor that delighted Abraham, who always called her “Mama”.

When I read about Sarah Bush Lincoln, I thought that she epitomized the Bible’s description of a good woman: “Many women do good things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30)

Sarah provided warmth and order and stability in the lives of her children. The woman who could not read or write instilled in her stepson a love of learning, and inspired a gift of humor and expression that bore fruit in producing probably the most articulate president in United States history . More than a hundred years after his death, school children were still memorizing his Gettysburg Address.

Sarah’s qualities came from a heart rooted in hearing scripture and responding simply in love. I believe that God delights in such simplicity in His own children.

Love in Him,

Prue