Category: - Grace Drops

Don't Quit

1/22/2014

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
and you want to smile, but you have to sigh.
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is odd with its twist and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out,
the silver tint of the clouds of doubt.
You never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit,
It's when things seem worst,
that you must not quit.

Author: C. W. Longenecker. Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 5 (2007).

Overcoming Attitude

12/6/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and notice she had only three hairs on her head.

“Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.” So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.

“H-m-m-m,” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.” So she did and had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.

“Well,” she said, “today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.” So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head.

“Yeah!” she exclaimed, “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

Attitude is Everything!

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 5 (2007).

How's Your Vision?

11/6/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

Helen Keller said, “The greatest tragedy in life is people who have sight but no vision.” How’s your vision?

A Hollywood producer scrawled a curt rejection on a manuscript that became “Gone With the Wind.” He had no vision for what that book could become.

Henry Ford’s largest original investor sold all his stock in 1906. What could have happened had he shared Ford’s vision for his company?

Orville and Wilbur Wright felt excited. On December 17, 1903, they had finally succeeded in keeping their homemade airplane in the air for 59 seconds. Immediately, they rushed a telegram to their sister in Dayton, Ohio, telling of this great accomplishment. The telegram read, “First sustained flight today fifty-nine seconds. Hope to be home by Christmas.”

Upon receiving the news of the successful flight, their sister was so excited that she rushed to the newspaper office and gave the telegram to the editor.

The next morning the newspaper headed the story: “Popular Local Bicycle Merchants To Be Home For Holidays.”

Can you see the real story? Are you looking for the hidden potential lurking behind every situation? Do you recognize those obscure opportunities cleverly disguised as glaring problems?

Your sight may be perfect, but how’s your vision?

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 4 (2006).

Holland

10/11/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this:

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans... the Coliseum, Michelangelo’s David, the gondolas of Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!" you say. "What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life, I've dreamed of going to Italy!"

The stewardess replies, "There's been a change in the flight plan. We've landed in Holland and it is here you must stay."

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It is just a different place. So, you must go and buy new guidebooks. You must learn a whole new language. You will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It is just a different place. It is slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy, but after you have been there while and you catch your breath, you look around and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That is what I had planned."

The pain of that will never, ever, ever go away because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Author: Emily Pearl Kingsley.

The Cracked Pot

9/20/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house"

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them.

Blessings to all my crackpot friends.

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 4 (2006).

Honey or Vinegar?

8/19/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

The preacher placed two identical jars on the table next to the pulpit. He quoted 1 Samuel 16:7, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

"These jars came from the same factory, were made of the same materials, and can hold the same amount. But they are different," he explained.

Then he upset one and it oozed out honey. He turned over the other, and vinegar spilled out. "When a jar is upset, whatever is in it comes out. Until the jars were upset, they looked alike. The difference was within and could not be seen. When they were upset, their contents were revealed.”

“Until we are upset, we put on a good front. But when we are upset, we reveal our innermost thoughts and attitudes.”

What if someone tipped you over today? What would flow out?

Would you reveal the "honey" of grace and patience, or the "vinegar" of anger and criticism?

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 4 (2006).

For Such a Time as This

8/17/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed and shaved perfectly applied, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.

"I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

"Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," he replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged ... it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do."

"Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away, just for this time in my life. Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in."

"So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories. Thank you for your part in filling my memory bank. I am still depositing."

Remember the five simple
rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 4 (2006).

Discouraged?

4/29/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

We like to cheer for the underdog in theory, but seldom like to actually be the underdog. Keeping the spirit up in spite of the odds is a major challenge in life. Here's a lesson from a story I read on the Internet.

As I was driving home from work one day, I stopped to watch a local Little League baseball game that was being played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind the bench on the first-baseline, I asked one of the boys what the score was. "We're behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile.

"Really," I said. "I have to say you don't look very discouraged."

"Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven't been up to bat yet."

One of the great life lessons I have gleaned from my sports addiction is not to give up. Until the third out in the bottom of the ninth, the game is not over. As long as there is time on the clock, the winner has not been declared. Where there is life, there is hope. I have also seen this in the lives of the many men and women, boys and girls that I have had the privilege of coming to know in my work as a chaplain. What a blessing!

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume 3 (2005).

The Way You Look at It

4/6/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

A man pulled into a gas station on the outskirts of town. As he filled his tank, he remarked to the attendant, "I've just accepted a job in town. I've never been to this part of the country. What are the people like here?"

"What are the people like where you came from?" the attendant asked.

"Not so nice," the man replied. "In fact, they can be quite rude."

The attendant shook his head. "Well, I'm afraid you'll find the people in this town to be the same way."

Just then another car pulled into the station. "Excuse me," the driver called out. "I'm just moving into this area. Is it nice here?"

"Was it nice where you came from?" the attendant inquired.

"Oh, yes! I came from a great place. The people were friendly, and I hated to leave."

"Well, you'll find the same to be true of this town."

"Thanks!" yelled the driver as he pulled away.

"So what is this town really like?" asked the first man, now irritated with the attendant's conflicting reports.

The attendant just shrugged his shoulders. "It's all a matter of perception. You'll find things to be just the way you think they are."

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume II (2004).

The Tree

3/15/2013

© Patty Fitts. All Rights Reserved.

The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation. His tan face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. "Oh, that's my trouble tree", he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing for sure, troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again." "Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."

Reprinted from Grace Drops, Volume II (2004).