Hinge Points

What kind of person are you?

Yesterday, I spoke in a meeting about hinge points. I recalled a short story by Gordon B. Hinckley. “I approached a large farm gate one day. I lifted the latch and opened the gate. The movement at the hinges was so slight as to be scarcely discernible. But the other end of the gate cut a great arc sixteen feet in radius. Looking at the movement of the hinges alone, one would never dream of the magnified action that came as a result of that tiny movement. So it is with the decisions in our lives. Some small thought, some small word, some small action can lead to tremendous consequences.”

It is the little things upon which life turns that make the big difference in our lives.

My conviction today is that when all is said and done what really matters for all of us and for this world is the kind of people we are.

Who are you? What do you stand for? What are you learning?

Consider this poem from T. S Eliot.

In the sudden mirror in the hall

I saw not my own self at all;

I saw a familiar face,

My father stood there in my place,

Reflecting in the hall lamp’s glare

My own surprised and watery stare,

In thirty years my son shall see

Not himself standing there but me.

What does this mean to me? Give this some consideration and thought.