On Saturday we stopped amid the light rain and gentle mist, like a veil of grace over the Maryland countryside, to visit the historic site of Thomas Stone’s plantation.  Stone is a lesser known signer of the Declaration of Independence.  He isn’t well known because, I learned while there, he was a more silent member of the founding fathers.  History reports that he didn’t talk much or join in many of the debates, but that he had great influence with the quiet strength of his pen.

I immediately liked the man.  How often I have wondered if someone would survive history if they were a quite thinker and not a boisterous orator or quick to act.  Thomas Stone was a quiet thinker and his story as a Maryland statesman has survived the centuries.  His homestead remains and the house has been reconstructed to its original footprint.  And, within the modest home, which housed two families, is his original writing desk, where he spent many hours.

There have been so many times in different situations when I have silently thought something, kept quiet, and then went home to write my thoughts in a journal or a letter . . . or, more recently, a blog.  And, I always felt I lacked some strength of character for hesitating to speak out.

But, now I know that history has honored the thoughtful, quiet strength of Thomas Stone’s pen.  There is great strength of character and graced influence in the ability to communicate clearly through the written word!

Are you comfortable speaking out when thoughts arise?  Or, do you ponder and reflect and sometimes only write your thoughts in notebooks that no one will ever see?  Each quality is a grace . . . each one gifted by God and uniquely intended for each individual.  One is no better than the other.  This life isn’t a competition.  Our world needs both kinds of thinkers, those who speak out and those who silently reflect and write.  Honor the grace that is yours!