GOD'S Embroidery

When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. As from the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop that she held in her hand. I complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat. She would smile at me, look down and gently say, "My son, you go about your playing for awhile, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side."
I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few minutes would pass and then I would hear Mother's voice say, "Son, come and sit on my knee."

This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy. Then Mother would say to me, "My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre- drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing."

Many times through the years I have looked up to my Heavenly Father and said, "Father, what are You doing?"

He has answered, "I am embroidering your life."

I say, "But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can't they all be bright?"

The Father seems to tell me, "My child, you go about your business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side."
- Women's Spirit

What Matter Most?

Name the ten wealthiest people in the world.
Name the last ten Heisman trophy winners.
Name the last ten winners of the Miss America contest.
Name eight people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer prize.
How about the last ten Academy Award winners?
The last decade's worth of World Series winners?

How did you do? With the exception of you trivia hounds, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday too well.

Surprising how quickly we forget, isn't it? And what I've mentioned above are no second-rate achievements. These are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

Think of three people you enjoy spending time with.
Name ten people who have taught you something worthwhile.
Name five friends who have helped you in a difficult time.
List a few teachers who have aided your journey through school.
Name half-a-dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.

Easier? The lesson?
The people who make a difference are not the ones with the credentials, but the ones with the concern.

Miracles can happen when have Faith

I once heard that when God closes a door, He opens a window. I have come to believe this because of the many times I have found myself backed into a corner, facing personal disaster, and a "window" has been opened for me.
I first learned of the miracle of "windows" when I complained to someone about a desperate financial situation I was in. He comforted me by telling me that many years earlier he and his wife had huddled in bed one night with their dog and two babies because there wasn't enough money to pay the gas bill. At the moment of their greatest desperation, he said, they inherited some money that had solved their financial problems.
Since that time I have witnessed similar types of "windows" in my own life. Time and time again when all hope seemed lost and I had no options left, something unusual happened that saved the day. Others have told me of being fired and having a better job present itself shortly, receiving gifts of money when bills needed to be paid, and getting unexpected advice that solved a serious problem.
Whenever my back is to the wall and I'm starting to get scared that I'm not going to be okay, I try to quiet myself and remember all the times my Higher Power has reached down and opened a window for me. I find that when I can focus on opening windows, not slamming doors, I can see solutions where none may have seemed present before.
Moral: Nothing happens to anybody which he is not fitted by nature to bear.

Mr. Washington

One day in 11th grade, I went into a classroom to wait for a friend of mine. When I went into the room, the teacher, Mr. Washington, suddenly appeared and asked me to go to the board to write something, to work something out. I told him that I couldn't do it. And he said, Why not?
I said, Because I am not one of your students. He said, It doesn't matter. Go to the board anyhow. I said, I can't do that. He said, Why not?
And I paused because I was somewhat embarrassed. I said, Because I am Educable Mentally Retarded. He came from behind his desk and he looked at me and he said, Don't ever say that again. Someone's opinion of you does not have to become your reality. It was a very liberating moment for me. On one hand, I was humiliated because the other students laughed at me. They knew that I was in Special Education. But on the other hand, I was liberated because he began to bring to my attention that I did not have to live within the context of what another person's view of me was. And so Mr. Washington became my mentor. Prior to this experience, I had failed twice in school. I was identified as Educable Mentally Retarded in the fifth grade, was put back from the fifth grade into the fourth grade, and failed again, when I was in the eighth grade. So this person made a dramatic difference in my life.
I always say that he operates in the consciousness of Goethe, who said, Look at a man the way that he is, he only becomes worse. But look at him as if he were what he could be, and then he becomes what he should be. Like Calvin Lloyd, Mr. Washington believed that Nobody rises to low expectations. This man always gave students the feeling that he had high expectations for them and we strove, all of the students strove, to live up to what those expectations were.
One day, when I was still a junior, I heard him giving a speech to some graduating seniors. He said to them, You have greatness within you. You have something special. If just one of you can get a glimpse of a larger vision of yourself, of who you really are, of what it is you bring to the planet, of your specialness, then in a historical context, the world will never be the same again. You can make your parents proud. You can make your school proud. You can make your community proud. You can touch millions of people's lives. He was talking to the seniors, but it seemed like that speech was for me.
I remember when they gave him a standing ovation. Afterwards, I caught up to him in the parking lot and I said, Mr. Washington, do you remember me? I was in the auditorium when you were talking to the seniors. He said, What were you doing there? You are a junior. I said, I know. But that speech you were giving, I heard your voice coming through the auditorium doors. That speech was for me, Sir. You said they had greatness within them. I was in that auditorium. Is there greatness within me, Sir? He said, Yes, Mr. Brown. But what about the fact that I failed English and math and history, and I am going to have to go to summer school. What about that, Sir? I am slower than most kids. I am not as smart as my brother or my sister who's going to the University of Miami. It doesn't matter. It just means that you have to work harder. Your grades don't determine who you are or what you can produce in your life.
I want to buy my mother a home. It's possible, Mr. Brown. You can do that. And he turned to walk away again. “Mr. Washington? What do you want now? Uh, I am the one, Sir. You remember me, remember my name. One day you're gonna hear it. I'm gonna make you proud. I'm the one, Sir. School was a real struggle for me. I was passed from one grade to another because I was not a bad kid. I was a nice kid; I was a fun kid. I made people laugh. I was polite. I was respectful. So teachers would pass me on, which was not helpful to me. But Mr. Washington made demands on me. He made me accountable. But he enabled me to believe that I could handle it, that I could do it.
He became my instructor my senior year, even though I was Special Education. Normally, Special Ed students don't take Speech and Drama, but they made special provisions for me to be with him. The principal realized the kind of bonding that had taken place and the impact that he'd made on me because I had begun to do well academically. For the first time in my life I made the honor roll. I wanted to travel on a trip with the drama department and you had to be on the honor roll in order to make the trip out of town. That was a miracle for me! Mr. Washington restructured my own picture of who I am. He gave me a larger vision of myself, beyond my mental conditioning and my circumstances.
Years later, I produced five specials that appeared on public television. I had some friends call him when my program, You Deserve, was on the educational television channel in Miami. I was sitting by the phone waiting when he called me in Detroit. He said, May I speak to Mr. Brown, please? Who's calling?
You know who's calling.
Oh, Mr. Washington, it's you.
You were the one, weren't you?
Yes, Sir, I was.

-By Les Brown