What the Iron Lady has to say to America

I recently watched The Iron Lady. It’s a movie about the life of Margaret Thatcher, “the longest serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of the 20^th century” (Wikipedia). 

Days after I watched this film, quotes from it stuck in my head. I have no clue how historically accurate the movie is, but I do know Thatcher has some pretty mind blowing quotes. 

Here’s a few that have stuck with me:

“Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions. Watch your actions for they become... habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny! What we think we become.”

“It used to be about trying to do something. Now it's about trying to be someone.”

“We will stand on principle... or we will not stand at all.”

Her words resonate for America today.

Somewhere along our history, we have forgotten to watch our thoughts. We let our guard down and so our morals have slipped. We call it “tolerance” but it’s really laziness in holding to our principles. 

Here are two quotes by Thatcher not in the movie:

“If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”

“To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.” 

American’s want to be liked…so we have compromised our beliefs…and we are achieving nothing! 

Only those strong in their principles are not caving under pressure…sadly it seems those who do not share my love of God and country are the ones holding fast and NOT compromising. 

Somewhere along our journey we have become a country where men and women care more about BEING somebody than about DOING something. 

We crave approval, attention, success. 

We want our names to be known no matter the cost to personal values. 

We think that if our names are in “lights” we have achieved greatness. We think we have “Done” something if are names are BIG/KNOWN. 

But this is in complete opposition to the teaching of Christ.

“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45 NIV

Our world likes to talk a great deal about leadership…tragically many have forgotten that in imitating Christ we don’t lose our worth by serving others, we gain fulfillment out of leading from a pure heart.

To quote Thatcher again, “To wear your heart on your sleeve isn’t a very good plan; you should wear it inside, where it functions best.”

 

America’s political leaders are supposed to be “servants of the people”.  Sadly both our politicians and the people have forgotten that. 

As Thatcher accused her own party of being more concerned with their political careers than in DOING what was best for the people, our politicians do the same. It’s a career for them, it’s who they ARE- not what they DO.  They don’t serve the people, they LEAD the people and the people seem okay with that.

America is called the “Great Experiment”…can man rule himself or do we need a government to be our nannies? 

For centuries American’s proved they can rule themselves. 

But as I mentioned above, we have grown lazy in guarding our principles. Our morals have eroded to the point we don’t even realize the cancer eating us. 

And now, many are crying out for the government to take control, to “protect us” from ourselves.

We are handing our freedoms over left and right. 

The Great American Experiment is failing and we only have ourselves to blame. 

Like the Israelite's, we are crying out for a king to lead us. Like them, we have forgotten God is our King. God is our Shepherd. God is the one who fixes our moral compasses on north! 

Man can rule himself IF man remembers that in order to be great, he must serve others.Tweet This

History repeats itself.

So I ask you:

Can America rule herself or is this experiment over? 

How can we help our leaders to remember they serve us, we don’t serve them?

 After the Constitutional Convention ended, a citizen asked Benjamin Franklin what kind of government had been formed. Franklin is said to have replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

 

Can we keep it?