George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was one of the 20th century’s greatest scientists. He rose from slavery to become one of the world’s most respected and honored men. He devoted his life to understanding nature and applied his knowledge to the area of agriculture. He is best known for developing crop-rotation methods for conserving nutrients in soil and discovering hundreds of new uses for crops. Carver’s scientific discoveries included more than three hundred different products derived from the peanut, some one hundred from sweet potatoes, and seventy-five different uses for the pecan. His accomplishments did much to challenge the then widespread belief that the black man was of inferior intelligence.
When I was young, I said to God, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the universe.’ But God answered, ‘That knowledge is for me alone.’ So I said, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.’ Then God said, ‘Well George, that’s more nearly your size.’ And he told me.”
Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and of the strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.
I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.
Learn to do common things uncommonly well; we must always keep in mind that anything that helps fill the dinner pail is valuable.
When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.
Where there is no vision, there is no hope.
Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
We have become ninety-nine percent money mad. The method of living at home modestly and within our income, laying a little by systematically for the proverbial rainy day which is due to come, can almost be listed among the lost arts.
It is not the style of clothes one wears, neither the kind of automobile one drives, nor the amount of money one has in the bank, that counts. These mean nothing. It is simply service that measures success.
God and science were both areas of interest, not warring ideas in the mind of George Washington Carver. He testified on many occasions that his faith in Jesus was the only mechanism by which he could effectively pursue and perform the art of science. George Washington Carver became a Christian when he was ten years old. When he was still a young boy, he was not expected to live past his twenty-first birthday due to failing health. He lived well past the age of twenty-one, and his beliefs deepened as a result. Throughout his career, he always found friendship and safety in the fellowship of other Christians. Dr. Carver viewed faith in Jesus as a means of destroying both barriers of racial disharmony and social stratification. He was as concerned with his students’ character development as he was with their intellectual development. He even compiled a list of eight cardinal virtues for his students to emulate and strive toward:
· Be clean both inside and out.
· Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.
· Lose, if need be, without squealing.
· Win without bragging.
· Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
· Be too brave to lie.
· Be too generous to cheat.
· Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.
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James 2:1-4 — My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
James 2:8-9 — If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
Colossians 3:17 — Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
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A MORNING PRAYER: Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. –Book of Common Prayer
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