Ability

There is something that is much more scarce , something rarer than ability.  It is the ability to recognize ability.

~ Robert Half

Our Gifts

God has given us two incredible things: absolutely awesome ability and freedom of choice.  The tragedy is that, for the most part, many of us have refused them both.

~Frank Donnelly

Caterpillars

There was a fascinating experiment conducted by French entemologist, Dr. Jean-Henri Fabre.  He took a group of processionary caterpillars and placed them on the rim of a  large flower pot. These caterpillars were placed nose to tail and they followed each other around and around. It was impossible to determine which was the leader and which were followers.

In the center of the flower pot Dr. Fabre place an abundant supply of food.  But the caterpillars paraded around the rim of the flower pot for seven days and nights simply following one another until one-by-one they died of exhaustion and starvation.  Even though the there was plenty of food just inches away, none of them could or would alter the path they were on to survive.

The lesson is that it often takes a visionary, with the courage to step outside the well-worn path, to survive in challenging times.

The Brain

The human brain is an amazing mechanism.  It's about half the size of a grapefruit, it's capable of recording 800 memories per second for 75 years without exhausting itself.  It stores between 10 billion and 100 billion pieces of information (depending on our age).  The human brain retains everything it takes in and never forgets anything; even though we don't or can't always recall the information, it's always on permanent file in our brain.

There is an myth that we only use 10% of our brain - it may be based on some old research that showed that only 10% of the neurons in the brain are firing at any given time. Another thought is that it arose from a study that showed that the average person develops only 10 percent of his or her latent mental ability. Whatever the case -what all of this shows is that there is tremendous potential in our brains, that is often untapped and untrained.  Imagine what can be done if we tried...

For example, conductor Arturo Toscanini literally conditioned his mind to store, organize, and recall musical information.  He memorized every note, for every musical instrument in 250 symphonies and 100 operas!

The lesson is that we can do far more than we are capable of, so ask yourself, what could you train your brain to do?

Use Your Talents

In ancient times, a talent was a unit of money, which is how it is used in this story.  But the story holds just as true when a talent is defined as “an individual ability”.

The master of a wealthy estate was preparing for a long journey to a far away country.  Before his departure, he entrusted a portion of his wealth to three of his servants.  To the first he gave five talents.  To the second he gave two talents, and to the final servant he gave one talent. Each was instructed to use what they had been given.

A year later the master returned to his estate and called his servants together to see how they had done.

The servant given five talents had invested wisely and had doubled his talents, so he now possessed ten.  “Well done” said the master. “Because you used what I gave you, I will give you more.”

The second servant had used his talents to help the village people.  Again the master was please and said “Because you used what I gave you, I will give you more.”

When the master asked the third servant how he had done, he replied  “you only gave me one talent and I was careful not to misuse it.  In fact, I put it in a safe place while you were gone and never touched it.  Here it is, good as new.”

The master was furious and yelled “ How dare you not use what I gave you?” then he took the talent away from the servant and gave it to the one who had ten.

The lesson is that we have to use the talents that we are given in order to grow and gain more.  If we do not use our abilities, we may very well lose them.

Callahan's Attitude Control

In 1982 Steven Callahan was crossing the Atlantic alone in his sailboat when it struck something and sank. He was out of the shipping lanes and floating alone in an inflatable life raft. He didn’t have many supplies left and his chances at survival were dwindling.  But when three fishermen found him seventy-six days later (the longest anyone has survived a shipwreck on a life raft alone), he was alive – granted he was skinnier than he was when he started, but alive.


He kept himself going when all hope seemed lost, when there seemed no point in continuing the struggle. He was starved, dehydrated and thoroughly exhausted. Giving up would have seemed the only sane option. But he didn’t.  In his book, Adrift, this is what he wrote: "I tell myself I can handle it. Compared to what others have been through, I'm fortunate. I tell myself these things over and over, building up fortitude..."

Wow – talk about attitude control!

The lesson here is that no matter how bad our circumstances others have been through much worse. It may be hard to do, but if we stop and realize how lucky we are and what we do have, it keeps us sane-even in the midst of crisis. So whatever you're going through, tell yourself you can handle it. Tell it to yourself over and over; use positive affirmations about your situation. It will help you get through the rough spots with a little more strength and peace.He had only three pounds of food and eight pints of water, a solar still and a makeshift spear.  When his raft sprung a leak, he was able to keep it afloat and fix the leak, pumping up the raft continually for 33 more days until his rescue. During his two-plus months at sea, Callahan traveled approximately 1,800 miles and survived shark attacks.