Music Fills me with Gratitude.

Music Fills Me With Joy and Gratitude.

I have often wondered if I have ever affected the lives of people in such a way that one day they might remember. I would like to think I have, but may never know.

I do know that my life was affected by others whom I will never forget. Some I remember so very well and have in the past mentioned them on this blog. But one very humble teacher I am most grateful for. She was Little by name and little of stature but had a tremendous heart of giving and encouraging and I will be eternally grateful to her. 

I will never forget the lunchtime break when she reached into her drawer and read me the following words.

"Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably of their own will never come to be. Make big plans, aim high in the hope they work for you. Remember this your children are going to do things that will stagger you."

How true those words were. I remembered them later when I was planning on leaving my job as a butcher and trying to do something more. many told me I was being silly, I would never achieve anything. I remembered those words read to me by one of the few teachers who ever seemed to have any hope for me.

Later in life when I was giving a speech to a large gathering of students I retold this story and what was on the bit of paper she had read to me.  I told them how she had inspired me when everybody else seemed to be putting me down.

Somebody told her about that speech and she got in touch with me. She thanked me. She then told me that when she was going to be a teacher, members of her family told her continually she was wasting her time. When she heard about the speech I had given she proudly went to her family and said, "You see I was never wasting my time."

Encouraging others has a ripple effect, they, in turn, may inspire others and so it could go on. I do hope so because then my teacher Mrs Little would still be inspiring others even though she is no longer with us.

A famous preacher was one day having a meal in a very busy restaurant. Just as he was about to have his meal another man came and asked if he could sit in the vacant place at his table. He was told yes.

Then as was his custom the preacher bowed his head in quiet prayer. When he had finished the other man asked him, "Do you have a sore head?"  The preacher replied, " No I do not have not have."

"Is there something wrong with the food you have been served?"

"No, I was simply giving thanks for the food as I always do before I eat."

The man looked at him and said, "Oh you are one of those, are you? Well, I want you to know I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow I do not have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in."

The preacher looked at the man again, "Yes, you are just like my dog. That is what he does too.!"

The gratitude may sound like a really old-fashioned word, but I do not think the reality of gratitude should be allowed to slip from out thinking or vocabulary. We all have something or somebody in life to whom we are grateful.

Have a music filled day of joy and gratitude.