I talked to Dory today !

[Boaz]

Dory is a stocker/bagger at my supermarket . She is cute and a real sweetie . She is probably about 70 years old , always wears a ponytail , weighs about 90 pounds , 5 feet tall , full of energy , hard worker , always happy and loves
the Lord .
She goes out of the way to wheel my grocery's out , we always talk a little . We have both testified to each other and talked about our church activity's. She loves Becky and always asks about her . I take our 3 dogs to work every day , she knows all their names . She is a wonderful and happy person . I love to be around her .

Do you have people like this in your life ? Not family just regular folks you deal with and they brighten your day on a regular basis . They are truly a blessing !

[USMC87]

There is a lady at a local grocery store that just about fits the identity of your friend and likewise she is well thought of and is a good Christian woman who speaks of God all she can. I love trips to the store where we can rejoice in Christ with each other.

[buckwheatpaul]

When I finally learned to turn it over to the LORD my life got better....much better....I have a number of such persons that pushed, pulled, and dragged me to that point and I give thanks to God for sending them to me.

[Blackwater]

Well, to start with, there's all you guys here. Then, there are a number of friends who always make me fell good to talk with. No man gets through this life anone! We all need these folks to help us tend our attitudes in life. Chuck Swindoll said:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”


I think he was right, and the folks around us really DO tend to have a huge impact on our attitudes. We need to keep the good ones as close as we can. It helps keep our attitudes where they need to be.

[GhostHawk]

Snippage “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home."

Amen brother!

So many now days just do not seem to realize that you catch more fly's with honey than vinegar!

Bad attitude = if you don't bother, why should I? Seriously if you can not put a smile on your face, make eye contact and meet me half way why should I bother with you?

On the other hand a positive attitude, a smile, a willingness to listen, and the most crusty old codger will sit down and tell you his life story, and throw in half the secrets of the universe while doing it.

Attitude!

Hey everyone has problems in their life, everyone has some kind of burden to bear. Some fault, some handicap, something that will set them apart if they let it.

What makes the difference is attitude.

Every morning when you wake up just tell yourself. Hey, another day on the green side of the grass. Lets try a smile on for size and see how far it will carry me. If you lose it, dig deep and come up with another.

After a while it becomes a habit, and then one day you look around and go, yeah life is tough. I have to work hard, I don't have many friends, but hey, I have some fun toy's, life is good, I'm actually kinda Happy.

Eventually if you stick with it you can work yourself out of that deep slippery slimey hole you dug yourself into. Don't cry over the lost years or decades. Take what you are given and do the best you can with it.

Attitude, a positive one has many positive influences on your life. Most unseen, manna from heaven when you least expect it.

A negative or bad one will close doors, deny you jobs, keep you from living well, andhave you down in a hole, never seeing the sun, wishing you were dead.
And in most cases there is no one honest enough to tell us we did it ourselves.

When in doubt, Smile, inside and out. Then look around and find something to smile about. Save that one for when you need it. No matter where you are, somewhere a young boy is playing with his father and laughing. A tree grows, a flower blooms, water runs or lies still. We just have to learn to look for it.

[Blackwater]

Amen, Ghost! I've worked with folks in bad situations for quite a while and seen many folks rather severely challenged. Some were burned out and lost all they had, and all sorts of things. And through it all, the one thing that seems to help them most, especially in dealing with it all, as overwhelming as it might seem at the time, is simply humor!

Once you've done all you can for these folks, personally and professionally, they've usually been so depressed for so long and so mournful for what was lost, that if you can somehow find something that can make them laugh at the situation, you really give them the biggest boost you possibly can. Usually, this will involve simple, short stories about others who've met problems along the way.

And it's amazing how accepting folks who are down can be to the simple precepts God has taught us, too. If you can get them to see the humor in others' precidaments, and how they came through it all, and even profited by it sometimes, and give them the simple hope of simple Christian well wishes and prayer, it's amazing what kind of transformation can and does take place.

You can see it in their eyes. The twinkle seems to return to them, and their attitude is SO much lighter, even though nothing around them has changed. All the changes were inside them. And all that's been done is a simple change of attitude, and maybe a re-fixing of goals, and some reorientation of one's aims in the short and long terms. But attitude is the biggest factor, by FAR!

"I'm not gonna' let this keep me down!" is a wonderful sentiment when we get to see it. It did more for me, I think, than it did for those I'd supposedly "helped!" Ain't it funny how that works?

[nagantguy]

I've worked out at my home gym for years , since 2007. this winter I got the workout blues, barn is cold in MI in December. I went to a local owned gym to enquire about price, veterans discount, new member discount, nice clean facilities anyhow a price I liked and I now feel I was guided there and for once I wasn't to proud and stupid to take the hint! the family that owns it is great, the kids a boy and girl the son and daughter or the owners work there , and do they work! I've met several veterans there, a few whom needed a little help adjusting, great group of guys to lift with, and a very very nice guy named chuck, he's a special investigator in Detroit, arson and hit and run, his faith and knowledge of God is inspiring. his son is a young Marine injured by an IED, I've turned them onto Col. Grossman, and it's helped! my daughter is "filling out" into her young ladies body, she doesn't want her sweaty meathead father coaching her workouts, so Holly the owner and her daughter have been helping her....it's been a wonderful experience!

[Blackwater]

Amazing, isn't it, how even the tiniest "little things" can be turned into something significant and good when we simply have real faith? I'll never be un-awed by it all!

[MaryB]

Grocery store that is now closed made a point of hiring some with mental handicaps as baggers. One was a young girl who always had a smile, was always laughing and joking, and who brightened everyone's day. One day I went in to get meat and other stuff for a BBQ catering event, almost 200 pounds of food. She asked what all the meat was for as she packed it in coolers for me, she refused to let me pick any of it because she said it was her job. SO I told her I was doing a wedding for someone and she said wow that has to be a lot of work. I said yes it is, it is Friday and I am looking for help.

She said I have Friday off and since it is here in town can I help. I said sure and that little girl had the time of her life serving food to people and helping me cook and cleanup. She not only learned some things and made money, she decided she wanted to learn how to cook for people who needed help. I put her in touch with the church we were at because they did a supper twice a week for the poor and they taught her to cook, how food safety worked, how to clean a commercial kitchen... Next time I met her at the store she ran over and hugged me, her boss came over and asked if I had been the one that gave her the desire to cook and he told me thank you, she has started working here in our catering kitchen and is doing such a good job she may make head cook in a year.

You never know who you help as they help you will get the spark to go on to help others and to learn a new skill on top of it!

[Boaz]

Thank you for that story MaryB! Our Lord puts these people in our path and it's on us to stop or just keep walking. We have to make choices every day . I would say you made the right choice with this girl . Thank you .

[USMC87]

Oh yes this girl was the right choice for sure.

[Blackwater]

What a great story, Mary! Thanks! I have a young cousin with Down's syndrome, and it's amazing how she's turned out. Most write them off as being impossible to deal with and train, but they're not. Her Mom and Dad were at first heart broken when they found that their child was to be as she is, but they could not, and would not, abort her. And when she was born, they just simply used absolutely consistent discipline to train her. Yes, it was a great challenge, but they persevered, and you could not find a sweeter, more lady-like young girl anywhere. She's loving and a bit shy at first, but the shyness dissipates quickly once she comes to trust anyone. There are few examples more clearly demonstrating how we so easily and commonly and consistently fool ourselves by simply assuming that what we believe about others is really true. So very often, it's just an assumption, and it's almost always based on a substantive misconception of what others really are and their potential in this world. I can't think of a more honest, reliable, consistently good young lady in the area!

And as the old saying goes, "A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child." The Shriners often use that one, but it applies wherever people bend down to help the young of any status. Great job, Mary. You remind me so much of my Mother!