Category: Empowerment - Grace Drops

Pray First

10/6/2014

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat. He had an old rifle and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out hunting and kill some wild game for dinner. As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit. He shot at the rabbit and missed it. The rabbit ran away. Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it. The squirrel disappeared into a hole in a cottonwood tree. As he went further, he saw a large wild "Tom" turkey in the tree, but he had only one bullet remaining. A voice spoke to him and said, "Pray first, aim high and stay focused."

However, at the same time, he saw a deer which was a better kill. He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot the rattlesnake. Still, the voice said again to him, "I said 'Pray, Aim high and Stay focused." So, the man decided to listen to God's voice. He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot the wild turkey.

The bullet bounced off the turkey and killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, it knocked the man into a pond. When he stood up to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and a turkey to feed his family. The snake was dead simply because the man listened to God.

Moral of the story:
Pray first before you do anything, Aim and shoot high in your goals, and stay focused on God. Never let others discourage you concerning your past. The past is exactly that, "the past." Live every day one day at a time and remember that only God knows our future.

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 7 (2009).

In Praise of Curiosity

2/6/2014

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

Luther Burbank, the famed horticulturist, invited every guest who visited his home to sign the guest book. Each line in the book had a space for the guest’s name, address, and special interests.

When inventor Thomas Edison visited Burbank, he signed the book and in the space marked “Interested in,” Edison wrote the word, “Everything,” followed by a large exclamation point.

That was almost an understatement. In his lifetime, Edison invented the incandescent light, the phonograph, the wax recording, and the hideaway bed.

He also invented wax paper, a variety of Portland cement, underground electrical wires, an electric railway car, an electric railroad signal, the light socket and light switch, a method for making synthetic rubber from goldenrod plants, the chemical phenol, and the motion picture camera.

He also found time to start the first electric company and gave us the quadruplex telegraph.

A news reporter once complimented Thomas Edison on his inventive genius.

“I am not a great inventor,” said Edison.

“But you have over 1,000 patents to your credit,” protested the reporter.

“Yes,” replied Edison, “but about the only invention I can really claim as absolutely original is the phonograph. I’m an awfully good sponge. I absorb ideas from every source I can and put them to practical use. Then I improve them until they become of some value.”

Then Edison added, “The ideas I use are mostly the ideas of other people who don’t develop them themselves.”

If there is a moral here, it is that curiosity about the world around us can open up opportunities for us that would be undreamed of otherwise.

© 2007, John C. Fitts, III. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 5 (2007).

Tied to the Past

6/25/2013

Backstage at a circus, motivational speaker Jim Donovan noticed that the elephants were kept in place by nothing stronger than a thin rope that tied one leg to a stake in the ground. Puzzled, Donovan asked one of the trainers what prevented these powerful animals from just snapping the rope and running away.

The answer? Raised in captivity, the elephants are held like that from an early age when they're much smaller and weaker. They get so accustomed to the fact that they can't break the rope that eventually they stop trying. When they're full grown, they never attempt to pull themselves free.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something simply because we failed at it once before. Have you avoided trying something new because of a limiting belief? Worse, how many of us are being held back by someone else's limiting beliefs?

Don't let yourself be held prisoner by beliefs and expectations that are no longer true -- if they ever were.

From "The Howe Herald." Adapted from "Why Elephants Don't Run," by Jim Donovan. Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 3 (2005).

Look Up

4/11/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

If you put a buzzard in a pen six or eight feet square and entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of his ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of ten or twelve feet. Without space to run, as is his habit, he will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler will be there until it dies unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom it will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

In many ways, there are lots of people like the buzzard, the bat and the bee. They are struggling about with all their problems and frustrations, not realizing that if they look up, they'll find the answer.

Don't you love it?

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume II (2004).

Acres of Diamonds

1/14/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

The following "Acres of Diamonds" lecture was reportedly given 6,000 times by Russell Herman Conwell (1843 – 1925), an American Baptist minister who founded Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

A young man had studied at Yale to become a mining engineer. Upon graduation, "gold fever" struck him and he set off to California to seek his fortune.

Yale had offered him a position as an instructor, which he turned down. He persuaded his mother to sell their Massachusetts farm and accompany him. But the trip was futile as he found no gold and eventually accepted a job in Minnesota working for a mining company -- at a lower salary than he would have received at Yale.

More interesting is that the man who bought the family farm from his widowed mother was harvesting potatoes one day. As he slid a heavy bushel through an opening in the stone wall, he noticed a shiny stone. He had it assayed and learned it was native silver. The farm was sitting on a fortune in silver!

Why had the mining engineer, who had undoubtedly passed by that same rock and others like it hundreds of times, not discovered the ore? Could it be that he never dreamed a treasure could be found so easily? Was it because he believed that one must go elsewhere to fulfill a dream?

The point is, what we are seeking may be found right where we are! There are certainly times to make life changes, but sometimes we must simply change our thinking. What you seek (happiness, security, fulfillment, challenge) may be at your fingertips, though yet unseen.

There may be hidden potential in your present job, your current relationships or the location in which you live. The answers to your dreams may be found at your fingertips if you only believe it is possible.

Before making that big life change, look carefully around and look within. You may be sitting on acres of diamonds!

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume II (2004).

A Matter of Worth

11/24/2012

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a twenty dollar bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this twenty dollar bill?" Hands starting going up. He said, "I am going to give this twenty dollar bill to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the bill up.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands went up in the air.

“Well,” he replied, “what if I do this?” and he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty.

“Now who still wants it?” Still the hands went into the air.

“My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth twenty dollars. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God’s eyes. To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to Him. YOU ARE SPECIAL!

© 2003, John C. Fitts, III. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume I (2003).

How to Use Grace Drops

10/20/2012

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

"Grace Drops" are seeds of encouragement sewn in the hearts of everyone who reads them. They are simple stories that reveal the deep feelings in the human heart. I have here a few suggestions as to how they may be used.

1.      Personal encouragement – Time and again people have stopped to tell me how much a particular Grace Drop has meant to them. They are stories that can be enjoyed, applied, and shared with others. Some help us to appreciate simple pleasures of life and others teach valuable lessons. All are meant to be encouraging.

2.      Small group devotional reflections – I have worked in settings where I needed to have a brief time of reflection to inspire and encourage my fellow team members. These stories are just the right length and are non-specific so that all may get pleasure from them.

3.      Motivational – One of the recipients of Grace Drops was a sales manager and used them to motivate his team. Many of the Grace Drops are ideal to enhance and build better interpersonal relationships.

4.      Family – Use Grace Drops with children to teach moral and life lessons.

5.      A Personal Example – I was invited to speak to a group of lay men and women at a local church about "spiritual care of the sick and shut-in." There were about 15 to 20 men and women gathered in the classroom. As a part of the lesson, I used one of the Grace Drops, "A Piece of Cake," to emphasize the participants’ own uniqueness and their special ministry. To emphasize the point, I placed a small slice of pound cake in front of each person without telling them why. At the end of the lesson I read the Grace Drop and told them that they could now eat their piece of cake. The combination of the encouraging story and the tasty object lesson drove the point home. It was a great way to end the session.

6.      Contact us with stories of how you have used Grace Drops.

© 2003, John C. Fitts, III. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume I (2003).

Grace Drops

10/20/2012

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

Have you ever felt a single drop of rain? You may not even notice it. Certainly it is no cause to run for shelter. Often that single drop is the precursor to an eventual downpour, or, it may be just the teasing of a small rogue cloud on an otherwise sunny day. While one drop by itself is harmless, before long those single drops begin to soak anyone and anything left uncovered. The collection of those drops eventually becomes a puddle. Enough rain causes puddles to overflow and become a small flood. And you know, it doesn’t take all that long.

Grace drops are like that single drop of rain. Standing alone, they may seem insignificant, and may even be overlooked. Gradually, though, they may become puddles of grace and even result in a flood that can change the landscape.

What are “grace drops?” Grace is anything that empowers, uplifts, or encourages another. A smile has power. When your manager or supervisor walks into the room, doesn’t it make a difference when you see a smile. Whether it is a fellow team member, a visitor, or a patient, remember the power of a smile. Words are also “grace drops.” Familiarity does indeed breed contempt, and we often forget that “please” and “thank you” are mood altering words.

Most “grace drops” are simple things that by themselves may seem too small to matter. But collectively they can change a prison into a palace. Who’s first? Where do they begin? They begin with you.

© 2003, John C. Fitts, III. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume I (2003).