Attitude of Gratitude

So…have you given enough thanks this week? Were you able to toss around a few expressions of appreciation in between the parades and the football games and the sweet potatoes? We sure hope so!! Because at fit4service, we know that a grateful heart is a powerful heart! And saying “thank you” for all of your blessings needs to be a daily exercise! Living a complete life includes seeing the good in everything. Having an “attitude of gratitude” can turn a menial job into a meaningful joy, an act of drudgery into a labor of love or a tedious task into a tireless act of service.

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ~ William Arthur Ward

"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation." ~ Brian Tracy

“When we become more fully aware that our success is due in large measure to the loyalty, helpfulness, and encouragement we have received from others, our desire grows to pass on similar gifts. Gratitude spurs us on to prove ourselves worthy of what others have done for us. The spirit of gratitude is a powerful energizer.” ~ Wilferd A. Peterson

“Gratitude should not be just a reaction to getting what you want, but an all-the-time gratitude. The kind where you notice the little things and where you constantly look for the good, even in unpleasant situations. Start bringing gratitude to your experiences, instead of waiting for a positive experience in order to feel grateful.” ~ Marelisa Fábrega

“Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.” ~ Author Unknown

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." ~ John F. Kennedy

“The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.” ~ Eric Hoffer

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” ~ Philippians 4:6

"Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road." ~ John Henry Jowett

“Real life isn’t always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties.” ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

"Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel. ~Author Unknown

“For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice." ~ Meister Eckhart

Progressive Success

Ask anyone at fit4service what "progressive success" means to them and you're likely to get 1,000 different answers. For some it means they can now do 7 pullups, when last month they couldn't even do 1. For some it means they have that new found energy to get the important presentation finished at the office when at the last big project, they petered out early. For others it means horsie-back rides for their grandkids, when last year they had trouble getting out of the recliner. However others define it, at f4s, we know that "every journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step". Let today be the day when you find what progressive success means to you.

“Success is not a destination, it's a journey.” ~ Anonymous

“To me success would be to be able to do your very best in everything you do." ~ Paul Cummings

“I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature." ~ John D. Rockefeller

“In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not through strength but by perseverance." ~ H. Jackson Brown

“Consider the postage stamp; its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing until it gets there." ~ Josh Billings

"There is no failure except in no longer trying." ~ Elbert Hubbard

“Defeat is simply a signal to press onward." ~ Helen Keller

“Sometimes a noble failure serves the world as faithfully as a distinguished success." ~ Dowden

“Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." ~ Conrad Hilton

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” ~ Winston Churchill

“Life asks us to make measurable progress in a reasonable time. That's why they make those fourth grade chairs so small.” ~ Anonymous

“To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give of one's self;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived ?
This is to have succeeded."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Easy Does It...

The pace of our lives can get really hectic sometimes. With work and family and community obligations always looming, things can pile up pretty quickly. It's easy to "fly off the handle" or "lose perspective" when things start to feel so out of whack. At f4s, we take a good hard look at takin' it easy! We know that rest and relaxation is an integral part of living a content and balanced life!

"Genius is the ability to renew one's emotions in daily experience". ~ Paul Cezanne

"When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion". ~Dale Carnegie

"To give vent now and then to his feelings, whether of pleasure or discontent, is a great ease to a man's heart". ~Francesco Guicciardini

"All humanity is passion; without passion, religion, history, novels, art would be ineffectual." ~ Balzac

"If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins". ~ Benjamin Franklin

"For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness". ~Author Unknown

"All emotions are pure which gather you and lift you up; that emotion is impure which seizes only one side of your being and so distorts you". ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living". ~ Nelson Mandela

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up". ~ Mark Twain

"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be". ~Abraham Lincoln

"Every now and then,
when the world sits just right,
a gentle breath of heaven
fills my soul with delight..."
~Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements in life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about:". ~ Charles Kingsley

"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for". ~Joseph Addison

"Jumping for joy is good exercise". ~Author Unknown

The "I"s Have It...

Notwithstanding what it did to that poor cat...curiosity is a very important factor to living an intellectually healthy and balanced life. Looking at something...a gadget, a smiling baby, a math problem or a sunrise and saying, "Hmmm, that's awesome, I wonder how that works" is a great start to flexing your brain and helping it grow. Asking, wondering, questioning and learning are great exercises for your mind...

“All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.” - Martin H. Fischer

“Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

“Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why.” – Bernard Mannes Baruch

“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.” - Abigail Adams

“Learning never exhausts the mind.” - Leonardo daVinci

“All of the top achievers I know are life-long learners looking for new skills, insights, and ideas. If they're not learning, they're not growing... not moving toward excellence.” - Denis Waitley

“A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity.” – Samuel Johnson

“It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.” - Jacob Bronowski

“The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn.” - John Lubbock

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.” - C. S. Lewis

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.” - Albert Einstein

“All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.” - Calvin Coolidge

“Seek and ye shall find…” - Matthew 7:7

“Life is a learning experience, only if you learn.” - Yogi Berra

At fit4service, we know that complete living means total giving. Some think an act of service needs to be magnanimous and vast in order to have an actual impact. f4s doesn't tell us that at all. How you use the gifts you've been given isn't the most important thing....just that you use them. Anyone can be a ripple of hope!

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. “ - Edward Everett Hale

“Only a life lived for others is a life worth living”. - Albert Einstein

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." – Gandhi

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But... the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" - Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.” -Benjamin Disraeli

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” - William James

“Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.” ~Saint Augustine

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” - Mother Teresa

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” - John Wooden

“This is the true joy in life - being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” - George Bernard Shaw

“I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.” - William Penn

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” - Winston Churchill

“The only gift is a portion of thyself.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Find a need and fill it.” ~Ruth Stafford Peale

“I've seen and met angels wearing the disguise of ordinary people living ordinary lives.” -Tracy Chapman

“I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catchers mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.” -Maya Angelou

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.“ - Robert F. Kennedy

Everyone can serve.

If you had tried to tell me just a couple of years back that I would be spending the last few months prepping for a 140 mile bike ride…I would have told you that you were nuts. The very fact that I actually even KNOW what “Lateral Lunges”, “Renegade Rows” and “Bulgarian Spilt Squats” are… is in itself pretty wacky…but the reality is that I have been regularly performing those crazy things for months-on-end in preparation for this upcoming week.

It is all for a really good cause and it is all for some really amazing kids.

I am heading out west to join the leaders and friends of The Scranton School for Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Children on what promises to be an adventurous [and hopefully profitable!] bike ride from Pittsburgh, PA to Cumberland, MD. The terrific kids from this new school are in need of a van to get them around town for extracurricular activities and community service projects. The vehicle is going to cost $20,000 and a few of us are trying to put a dent in that. The cost that is…not the van!

So why am I telling you all about this? Well, as the senior-est citizen of fit4service, I guess I’m hoping you might somehow conclude that “if that old guy can pull off something this crazy…then there really must be something to all this P.I.E.S. stuff”!

But mostly, I just wanted to share with you how grateful I am for the chance to put "fit4service" to the test!

You see, these kids are really great kids. They range from kindergarten to high school seniors and they are smart and kind and funny and fun…and they also happen to be deaf. And let me tell you…just because there may be a “P” glitch with their ears…these kids have an extraordinary grasp on the “I. and the E. and the S.”!!!

I have had the most remarkable time getting to know them and witnessing their high-spirited goodness this past year. The school opened its doors in September and my wife is the new librarian there. The campus is right up the street from our house. When she was hired, she was challenged to learn a whole new language [American Sign Language] and we have been studying it together at classes in the school. ASL is a beautiful and expressive language and it has been both challenging and fulfilling “getting my I on” in learning all of the intricacies of a whole new language...even as I learned more and more about how really great these amazing young people are.

Last winter, the kids at The Scranton School showed me ~ in a direct and measurable way ~ what Dr. King always said, “Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.” During an awful snap of sub-zero weather here last winter, a shelter for the homeless found itself in dire need of coats and clothing. The kids, faculty and families at The Scranton School came to the rescue. In no time at all, they collected and delivered a stunning load of goods to help out. It was so impressive how they all stepped up. The whole effort wasn’t about them…it was about them helping out someone else.

My friends at The Scranton School personify for me the true value of fit4service…living out our purpose to the best of our ability, accessing all our God-given talents and gifts and committing them to serve Him and others. They don’t just talk about being fit4service…they live it!

I am always so grateful for f4s. It challenges us to challenge our bodies, our minds, our attitudes and ours hearts to strive to that ultimate purpose of serving Him by serving others.

So if I have had to endure a whole bunch of seemingly meaningless [yet progressively successful!] exercises in order to participate in this challenging 140-mile sojourn…it will have all been worth it just to be able to say I too tried my best to help out someone else. Wish us luck!

Laughter.

You all know that phrase about laughter being the best medicine, right? Well I'm no doc, but I sure do heartily prescribe that remedy for whatever ails you!

A good chuckle can significantly boost your "P" and your "I" and even your "S". But especially when your "E" is a little out of whack...I highly recommend taking a healthy dose of knee-slapping, side-splitting, can't-catch-your-breath laughter.

Go watch one of your old favorite comedy movies [Jerry Lewis always does it for me...heeey laaady!!!] or read the funny pages [Zits is hysterical and Calvin and Hobbes never fails to crack me up!] or ask a little kid to tell you their favorite joke [you're bound to hear about some poultry crossing the street!].

Or best of all...give a friend a call and share those one-of-a-kind inside jokes that only you two understand. Nothing beats that kind of laughter. Nothing. You'll feel better in no time at all!

Mirth is God's medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher

“Laughter is an instant vacation.” ~ Milton Berle

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.” ~ e.e. cummings

The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.” ~ Mark Twain

“To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone." ~ Reba McIntyre

“Seven days without laughter makes one weak.” ~Mort Walker

“Nothing shows a man's character more than what he laughs at.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.” ~ Yiddish Proverb

“God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.” ~ Voltaire

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death” ~ Robert Fulghum

“The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.” ~ Shirley MacLaine

“Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.” ~ W. H. Auden

“Laughter is the shock absorber that eases the blows of life.” ~ Unknown

“Laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.” ~ Hugh Sidey

“I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.” ~ Woody Allen

“He who laughs last didn't get it.” ~ Helen Giangregorio

Balance.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
~ Albert Einstein

The key to keeping your balance is knowing when you’ve lost it.
~ Unknown

We need to maintain a proper balance in our life by allocating the time we have. There are occasions where saying no is the best time management there is.
~ Catherine Pulsifer

Enough is as good as a feast.
~English Proverb

The most pleasant and useful persons are those who leave some of the problems of the universe for God to worry about.
~Don Marquis

Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance.
~Epicurus

To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.
~Confucius

Everything in moderation, including moderation.
~Author Unknown

To character and success, two things, contradictory as they may seem, must go together... humble dependence on God and manly reliance on self.
~William Wordsworth

No matter what happens... somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.
~Dave Barry

The Gift of Service

I mentioned last week that while shoveling out from the mountain of snow, I realized 3 very important things. One of those realizations is that some people seem to be born with the gift of service.

You may remember that my wife and I just had our third child (not pictured) and it's our tradtion to move out to my parents' house to let my wife recover and to get some help with the kids. Although I've always realized my parents were special people, I've finally been able to put my finger on why they are so special. They have the gift of service!

Over the last 2 weeks I've watched my parents completely put their life on hold to help my wife and I adjust to our new family member. They've gotten up in the middle of the night with our other kids depriving themselves of much needed rest. They've picked up and dropped off our older children at the daycare so that I could get to work on time. They've helped shovel our snow, made dinner, given the kids baths etc. etc. I could go on and on.

The coolest thing about their gift is that it just didn't start two weeks ago. They've been living this life of service as long as I can remember. They serve the Lord by serving their kids, their church, their neighbors, their employers. I've never once heard my mother or father say, "But what about me?" Their life has been dedicated to others and what a joy it is to be a part of.

Do you know anyone with the gift of service? Give them a little public recognition and talk them up in the comments section of this page or on facebook! Let them know how thankful you are for them!

CAN YOU DIG IT!!!?

Yesterday my ability to be fit4service was extremely tested. As everyone knows we had a huge snowstorm on the east coast with some reports of up to 23 inches in our area. My wife, kids and I have been staying at my parents house after the birth of our son a week ago. It's huge blessing because my parents help with the kids and it gives my wife a chance to recover a bit before we go back to the "real world."

After spending some time getting my parents' place cleaned up for the snow, we needed to drive into our place and dig us out. We have on street parking in our town and you have about 12 hours to get shoveled out before they issue fines. Anyway, as we pulled down our street we saw the biggest pile of snow in front of our house! Long story short, because we were not parked in front of our house, the borough snow plows decided to deposit most of our streets' snow in our spots for us to dig out. On top of that, there was no where to move it except across the street. Let the fun begin!

My dad and I preceded to start shoveling. Pick up a shovel full of snow, turn around, walk across the street, put it down, turn around and repeat. For 3 hours! We are estimating (and my dad is a mechanical estimator by trade so this is probably pretty accurate) that there was about 2 tons of snow in this spot. Talk about a test of PIES. It truly tested our physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual bodies. But I learned some pretty cool things in the experience.

1. I was physically prepared. No I don't train to shovel snow but because I had taken care of my body, I did not get tired while I was working. (but trust me, I slept well last night)

2. Because I was not getting fatigued, my emotions stayed in check. It is very easy to become frustrated with a situation like this, especially when you are physically exhausted, but I was able to stay in balance. Actually it was a joy to spend some guy time with my dad. (But I could think of better ways)

3. As I was working, the bible verse that talks about doing all things as unto the Lord kept ringing in my ears. Although it was monotonous and potentially overwhelming, I knew that the Lord was pleased with our efforts and attitude yesterday.

4. A major part of life is about community and strangely enough other than my dad and an extremely nice neighbor, no one offered to help. Even as plow after plow, and snow blower after snow blower drove by, no one said, can I help you? This is something that fit4service aims to change.

5. Some people have the gift of service. I'll talk more about this later in the week but let me first say I'm not talking about myself. I'll fill you in later.

Anybody else have anything happen this week that stretched their PIES Post it in the comments below!