Remembering Abraham Lincoln: Rail-Splitter, President, and Quiet Giant

Every February 12, I pause to remember a man who helped America live up to its own ideals.

Not through easy words.

Not through popularity.

But through courage, conviction, and a willingness to carry the weight of history on his shoulders.

For me, Abraham Lincoln is more than a name in a textbook.

As a woman who is half black, his legacy is deeply personal.

He believed that all people were created equal—not as a slogan, but as a sacred truth.

He recognized that every human being has God-given worth. And he was willing to lead a fractured nation through war to defend that truth.

He didn’t fight for power.

He fought for principle.

Today, on his birthday, I’d like to remember him through the three “lives” he lived—each one shaping the quiet giant he became.

Before he was a president, Abraham Lincoln was a boy born into poverty on the American frontier.

He grew up with very little formal education. No privilege. No powerful connections. No easy path.

What he did have was determination—and an unshakable love of learning.

🌟 He taught himself to read.

🌟 He borrowed books whenever he could.

🌟 He studied law on his own.

And slowly, through discipline and faith, he built a life rooted in integrity.

He worked as a store clerk, a surveyor, a postmaster, and a lawyer. He earned a reputation for honesty so strong that people simply called him “Honest Abe.”

Not because it sounded good.

Because he lived it.

Lincoln’s early life reminds us that leadership doesn’t begin with titles—it begins with character.

Long before he held office, he practiced:

These quiet habits shaped the man who would one day lead a nation.

They remind us that greatness is usually built long before anyone is watching.

When Lincoln became president, America was already unraveling.

💔 States were seceding.
💔 Families were divided.
💔 War was looming.

He did not inherit peace.

He inherited chaos.

And yet, he refused to abandon the nation’s founding promise.

He believed the Declaration of Independence meant what it said:

That all men are created equal.

Not “some.”

Not “most.”

All.

Under his leadership, the Civil War became more than a fight to preserve the Union. It became a moral struggle to end slavery and extend freedom to every American.

Leading during wartime is never easy. Leading during a civil war is unimaginable.

Lincoln faced:

And still, he pressed forward.

He issued the Emancipation Proclamation.

He delivered the Gettysburg Address.

He called the nation to “malice toward none” and “charity for all.”

He led with humility, strength, and faith.

And because of that, America emerged changed forever.

It’s easy to think of Lincoln only as a statue or a face on currency.

But he was also a…

🎩 Husband.
🎩 Father.
🎩 Storyteller.
🎩 Man who carried deep sorrow.

He was a man who knew the privilege of being president didn’t stop him from being human.

🎩 He lost children.
🎩 He battled depression.
🎩 He bore the emotional weight of war.

And yet, he kept his compassion.

🎩 He told jokes to ease tension.
🎩 He read Scripture.
🎩 He sought wisdom.
🎩 He prayed.

Even in the darkest hours, he tried to remain gentle.

Lincoln’s private life reveals something rare: a leader who never hardened his heart.

He showed that strength and compassion are not opposites.

They belong together.

His ability to remain human in inhuman times is one of his greatest legacies.

More than a century later, Lincoln’s voice still echoes.

Not because he was flawless.

But because he was faithful.

He believed leadership meant: