Presidents' Day

Happy Presidents’ Day on February 17! If you are a federal government employee, this day is for you!

Celebrated each 3rd Monday in February, Presidents’ Day was originally established in 1885 to recognize the nation’s very first president, George Washington (your calendar might even still say it’s Presidents’ Day and Washington’s birthday). Washington was really born on February 22, but the holiday was moved to its present day in 1971 as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which created more 3-day weekends for the nation’s workers. Several states still have separate holidays honoring Washington and Abraham Lincoln (whose birthday is February 12) but Presidents’ Day now celebrates all presidents, past and present—February birthdays or not (Ronald Reagan also had a February birthday, on the 6th). Hmmm...and there was one more February chief executive. It was...it was...it was...William Henry Harrison. Who?

Yes. William Henry Harrison (2/9). He was the ninth (president), first (president to die in office), oldest (person to be elected president, at 68, before Ronald Reagan, who was 69), shortest (term—served only 32 days) and last (president born as a British subject before American independence). He was a husband, a father (10 children), a government servant, a military general and war hero, county official, Ohio state lawmaker, US congressman, senator and diplomat. He won the presidency in 1840 and was inaugurated on a nasty, frigid March 4, 1841. His inaugural address lasted a long two hours, which he delivered without wearing an overcoat in an effort to prove his vim and vigor, despite all the negativity surrounding his “advanced age.” He caught cold, developed pneumonia and died just a month later on April 4, 1841.  His wife never even saw the White House. Because of his term’s brevity, he is the only president who never appointed a single federal judge at any level; no states were admitted to the Union while he was president. The Huffington Post called him a “lesser presidential light” and it was also said that he was “not the best president, but not the worst.” Let’s just say he was never seriously considered as Mt. Rushmore material. Nonetheless, he will still be one of the February 17 Presidents Day honorees.

Kind of like me, and maybe you. I’ll never be queen, never be a famous missionary in a foreign land. Gaston and Section school parent groups were as far up the presidency ladder as I’ll ever get. But one day I’ll be honored as a new resident of heaven and gifted with my very own mansion. My neighbors will all be saints and I’ll have all the riches I could ever want. I won’t be sick, I won’t be sad and I’ll converse with the Creator of the universe. Isaiah 55 tells me to “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!” John 1:12 promises, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Doesn’t matter if I’m the best, or the worst. Just matters that I’m His.