Category: Honesty

A Quarter's Worth of Character

7/22/2014

Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Houston, Texas. Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.

As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, "You' d better give the quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it." Then he thought, "Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as 'a gift from God' and keep quiet."

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the quarter to the driver and said, "Here, you gave me too much change."

The driver, with a smile, replied, "Aren't you the new preacher in town? I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change. I'll see you at church on Sunday."

When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said, "Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter."

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 6 (2008).

Comments

White Lie Cake

7/15/2014

Comments

Alice Grayson was to bake a cake for the Church Ladies' Group in Tuscaloosa, but forgot to do it until the last minute. She remembered the morning of the bake sale & after rummaging through cabinets, found an angel food cake mix and quickly made it while drying her hair, dressing, and helping her son pack for Scout camp.

When Alice took the cake from the oven, the center had dropped flat and the cake was horribly disfigured, she thought, "Oh dear, there is not time to bake another cake." This cake was important to Alice because she did so want to fit in at her new church and in her new community of friends.

So, being inventive, she looked around the house for something to build up the center of the cake. Alice found it in the bathroom - a roll of toilet paper. She plunked it in and covered it with icing. Not only did the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect. Before she left the house to drop the cake by the church and head for work, Alice woke her daughter Amanda and gave her some money and specific instructions to be at the bake sale the moment it opened at 9:30 and to buy the cake and bring it home.

When Amanda arrived at the sale, she found the attractive, perfect cake had already been sold. She grabbed her cell phone and called her mom. Alice was horrified - she was beside herself. Everyone would know! What would they think? She would be ostracized, talked about, and ridiculed!

All night, Alice lay awake in bed thinking about people pointing fingers at her and talking about her behind her back. The next day, Alice promised herself she would try not to think about the cake and would attend the fancy luncheon/bridal shower at the home of a fellow church member and try to have a good time. Alice did not want to attend because the hostess was a snob who more than once had looked down her nose at Alice because she was a single parent and not from the founding families of Tuscaloosa. But, having already RSVP'd, she couldn't think of a believable excuse to stay home.

The meal was elegant; the company was definitely upper crust old South and, to Alice's horror, the cake in question was presented for dessert! Alice felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake! She started out of her chair to tell the hostess all about it, but before she could get to her feet, the Mayor's wife said, "What a beautiful cake!"

Alice still stunned, sat back in her chair when she heard the hostess (who was a prominent church member) say, "Thank you, I baked it myself."

Alice smiled and thought to herself, "God is good."

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 6 (2008).

Comments

Admitting Flaws

9/13/2013

Comments

In the mid-1980's researchers at Cleveland State University made a startling discovery. They conducted an experiment by creating two fictitious job candidates, David and John. The candidates had identical resumes and letters of reference. The only difference was that John's letter included the sentence "Sometimes, John can be difficult to get along with." They showed the resumes to a number of personnel directors. Which candidate did the personnel directors overwhelmingly prefer? Difficult to get along with, John.

The researchers concluded the criticism of John made praise of John more believable. Admitting John's wart actually helped sell John. Admitting flaws gives you more credibility. A key to selling.

Authenticity can be threatening. We may find it uncomfortable to admit mistakes, flaws in our character. Yet we all have them. When we meet someone who is willing to be honest and real, we tend to be attracted to that person, not repelled. Why then, do we balk at self-disclosure?

Once we come to the place where we acknowledge that we are a work in progress rather than a finished product, we can relax and be confident. As we strip away the layers that protect us, we are able to discover true friendship and relationships.

Try being proactive in this endeavor. Be authentic. Be real. See what happens.

© 2006, John C. Fitts, III. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 4 (2006).

Comments

The Final Exam

3/7/2013

Comments

These four friends were so confident, that the weekend before finals they decided to go up to the University of Virginia and party with some friends. They had a great time, however, after all the hearty drinking and partying, they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Duke until early Monday morning.

Rather than take the 100 point final then, they decided to find their professor after the final and explain to him why they missed it. They explained that they had gone to UVA for the weekend with the plan to come to study but, unfortunately, they had a flat tire on the way back, didn't have a spare, and couldn't get help for a long time. As a result they missed the final.

The Professor thought it over and then agreed they could make up the final the following day. The guys were elated and relieved. They studied that night and went in the next day at the time the Professor had told them.

He placed them in separate rooms and handed each of them a test booklet and told them to begin. They looked at the first problem, worth only 5 points, something simple about free radical formation.

"Cool," they thought at the same time, each one in his separate room, "this is going to be easy."

Each finished the problem, and then turned the page. On the second page was written: (For 95 points): Which tire?

© Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume II (2004).

Comments

The Emperor's Seed

1/31/2013

Comments

Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and ready to choose his successor. He decided to do something different.

He called all the young people in the kingdom together. He said, "It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!"

One boy, named Ling, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he watered it and waited.

After about three weeks, other youths began to talk about the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing. Before long Ling felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling kept silent, however, and just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emeror for inspection. Ling felt too embarrassed to take an empty pot, but his mother encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot..

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

Suddenly, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

The Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. The emperor looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume II (2004).

Comments

The Rose

1/5/2013

Comments

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose.

His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She now lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II.

During the next year the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, her looks wouldn't matter.

When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York City. "You'll recognize me," she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel". So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen. I'll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened:

"A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. "I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips, 'Going my way, sailor' she murmured."

"Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes."

"The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own."

"And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her. "This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment"

"I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?" The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile.

"I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"

It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. "Tell me whom you love," Houssaye wrote, "And I will tell you who you are."

Comments

Honesty Really is the Best Policy

11/19/2012

Comments

Truth seems to be a negotiable commodity these days. Convenience is more of a determining factor than character. Now and then the price paid for deception is made clear. Consider this story.

Once a peevish old fellow boarded a train, occupied the best seat, and then tried to reserve still another for himself by placing his luggage upon it. Just before the crowded vehicle stated, a teenage boy came running up and jumped aboard.

"This car is full," said the man irritably; "that seat next to me is reserved for a friend of mine who has put his bag there."

The youth paid no attention but sat down saying, "All right, I'll stay here until he come."

He placed the suitcase upon his knees while the elderly man glared at him in vain. Of course, the "friend" didn't appear, and soon the train began to move. As it glided past the platform, the young fellow tossed the bag through the open window remarking, "Apparently your friend has missed the train. We mustn't let him lose his luggage too!"

With a horrified expression on his face the old gentleman began to fume and sputter. The lie had cost him his possessions!

We live in a culture where truth is sacrificed on the altar of convenience and circumstance. Those little lies that may help us avoid responsibility or accountability at the moment may seem innocuous and of little consequence, but they chip away at our character. It is easier than being straightforward and honest. As in the story above, while building character may be costly, there is most definitely a price to be paid for the lack of it.

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

Comments

A Quarter's Worth of Character

White Lie Cake

Admitting Flaws

The Final Exam

The Emperor's Seed

The Rose

Honesty Really is the Best Policy

Author

Archives

Categories

© This website, the images on the website, and all material found within this site are copyrighted.
Any copying or reproducing in part or whole, without consent, is strictly prohibited.

A Quarter's Worth of Character

White Lie Cake

Admitting Flaws

The Final Exam

The Emperor's Seed

The Rose

Honesty Really is the Best Policy

Author

Archives

Categories

© This website, the images on the website, and all material found within this site are copyrighted.Any copying or reproducing in part or whole, without consent, is strictly prohibited.

© This website, the images on the website, and all material found within this site are copyrighted.
Any copying or reproducing in part or whole, without consent, is strictly prohibited.