How’s your week going? Probably some ups and downs, a few wins and losses, maybe grace and judgement. We bought a car this week. Oddly enough that event involved all six of the above!
I also was reminded of a phrase this week: This too shall pass. While not taken from the Bible, it does reflect a measure of biblical wisdom. Ever wonder where it came from? Spoiler alert! It was not a white, European man! Most likely it was first penned by a Muslim poet in the 12th century. (It was probably first said by Eve to one of her kiddos!)
According to this video, the sentence was given to a king to help him avoid both being crushed by defeats and made arrogant by victory. It reminded him that neither the good nor the bad would last forever. My former pastor and mentor says similarly about church ministry, “Don’t ride the highs. Don’t ride the lows.”
The poet’s name is Attar of Nashipur, a 12th century Persian Sufi Muslim from a region now in the country of Iran.
The phrase made its way west (and probably east) and became popular in the US through a speech soon-to-be-president Abraham Lincoln made at the Wisconsin State Fair in 1859. Interestingly, Lincoln closed the speech expressing hope that the maxim would not prove true of the growing goodness he saw in America.
Even so, this gift from a Persian poet has found a place in our popular culture. You may have had it told to you and may have told it to others. It possibly helped.
May God use it today to remind us that Iranians are so much more than our country’s current foe. May he also use it to bring, in Lincoln’s words, “chastening in the hour of pride! [And] consoling in the depths of affliction!”