We went to the Henry Ford Museum last week. It was not anything like I expected it to be. I expected old cars and, well, that’s really all I expected. What I experienced was so much more than old cars.

My family and I explored both the village and the museum. Let’s talk about the village first. While Henry Ford was still alive, he took an interest in saving the houses of people who had made an impact during their lives. Ford wanted to create a place where people could come and see where innovative people lived in order to help inspire others. To create this village, he hired some men to mark every board and brick on the houses where they were located, take them a part, and them put them back together in the exact same order piece by piece inside his village.

Some of the houses he moved to this village included: the Wright brothers and their bicycle shop, Robert Frost’s house, the McGuffey schoolhouse (of the McGuffey Reader), and the courthouse where Abraham Lincoln worked as a lawyer in Illinois. There was also his house where he grew up, his teacher’s house from when he was in school, and Noah Webster’s house (the guy who wrote the dictionary).

To say all of this was a little overwhelming would be an understatement. I knew they did not all live together in a village, but to know you were walking from one house to another, where something great had happened, was hard to comprehend.

Each of these people made a choice to better the world around them during their lives. I love that Henry Ford, while he was still alive, chose to collect these houses, and these stories, so that we would be able to learn from history. He didn’t ask people to spend his money after he died. He lived his dream while living. He also lived a dream of bettering the world through the Model T car while he was still alive.

We all have choices to make while we are living. Are you living so that others can learn from your life? Where do you feel drawn to make a difference? It could be mentoring children to a tired mom and dad, teaching a young lady how to cook your favorite recipe, or showing a guy how to build a birdhouse.

Sharing your life with others will allow them to experience your daily choices. Do not hoard your life from others. Freely give of yourself to others as God has given to you — your choices matter!

© 2019 Susan M. Sims

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