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Life Lessons
Work with what you've got
This material appears courtesy of Nappaland

“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:12b, 13 (NIV)

“These farm boys are hopeless! They’ll never be soldiers! Why can’t somebody send us real men to train for this war?”

That was the growl of many army officers from both the north and the south during America’s Civil War. Trouble was, they were most often right! That’s because when the Civil War began, rural farm boys streamed into the military from all over the country, anxious to fight for their side in the war.

At first, the Union and Confederate armies welcomed these young men, but soon it became apparent that the “backward” ways of these uneducated country boys could be more of a hindrance than a help in the war effort.

The officers’ biggest frustration came when it was time to teach these raw recruits to march. Many of the rural boys had never learned to distinguish their left sides from their right sides. Because of this, the standard marching cadence, “Left, left, left, right, left!” simply caused chaotic confusion among the ranks.

Still, while all the other officers grumbled, one creative man decided to make soldiers out of these country folk. Knowing that farm boys had learned the difference between hay and straw, he made his recruits tie hay to their left feet and straw to their right. Then he revised his cadence to “Hayfoot, hayfoot, hayfoot, strawfoot, hayfoot.” Other officers picked up the practice, and in short time, these young country boys were marching machines, uniformly stomping their hayfeet in and out of battle with the best of them.

While many officers wasted time complaining about the polished recruits they didn’t have, one creative officer chose to invest his time in learning how to get the most out of what he already had.

We’d be wise to do the same.

"Life Lessons from America’s Civil War: Lesson #2" excerpted from Life Lessons from America’s Civil War © 1999 Nappaland Communications Inc. and Dick Olson. Reprinted with permission.

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