Obstacles Are Those Frightful Things You See When You Take Your Eyes Off Your Goal

"If you can find a path that has no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere." (Frank Clark)

Glenn Cunningham, the Kansas Flyer, courtesy http://www.wanttoknow.info/050702powerofdetermination.

Glenn Cunningham used to light the pot-bellied stove in the one room schoolhouse every day.  One day the teacher arrived to find the schoolhouse engulfed in flames.  She managed to pull Glenn out but he was unconscious.  Glenn languished in a coma for weeks.  The doctor told his mother that he likely wouldn't survive.  She refused to believe the prognosis and talked to her son everyday to bring him out of the coma.  Slowly, he did wake up.  However, then the doctor said that, because of his scarred legs, he would likely never walk again, but Glenn's mother refused to believe him.  She massaged his legs daily.

Glenn eventually went home.  One day his mother took him outside for some fresh air.  Glenn decided to get out of his wheelchair, drag himself across the grass and up on to the picket fence, and "walk" along the fence.  Eventually, he mastered the fence and started walking on his own.  Next, he decided to walk the periphery of the yard.  Then, he decided to run.  Eventually, he ran all the way to school where he tried out for the track team.  In college, he earned the nickname the "Kansas Flyer".  Would you believe, the young man who was not expected to live ran the world's fastest indoor mile at Madison Square Gardens in February of 1934?  Dr. Glenn Cunningham lived until his 80th year.

"Inspiration kept [Glenn] going even when obstacles got in the way" (http://sohp.com/success-learned-napoleon-hill-i/).  It appeared as if everything was against him.  The doctor had given up hope.  But Glenn's mother hadn't, and neither had Glenn.  He learned form his adversity.  He refused to let the obstacles he faced deter him.  Glenn exhibited great patience on his journey to success.  He took it one hurdle at a time.  First, he conquered the wheelchair by standing, then the fence by walking, then the distance from home to school by running, then the clock by training.  Each time, he set a more difficult goal.  

Henry Ford said:  "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." Glenn Cunningham never took his eyes off his goal.

Note:  Read Everything I Know About Success I Learned From Napoleon Hill by Don M. Green (https://www.amazon.ca/Everything-About-Success-Learned-Napoleon/dp/0071810064).

http://quotes.lifehack.org/quote/henry-ford/obstacles-are-those-frightful-things-you-see/

Grace in a Painting

"This is what I do." (Lisa Allison)



As most of you know, seven years ago my sister Lisa suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm followed by a massive stroke at the tender age of 45.  She now lives in a nursing home.  Despite the odds, Lisa has proven the doctors wrong over and over again by regaining abilities they said she would never regain (see "Painting a Portrait of Stroke Recovery" (http://www.christiancourier.ca/images/uploads/past-issues/2015April13c.pdf - page 12). One of those abilities is painting.  Before the stroke, Lisa was a graphic artist.

Lisa Allison's painting circa 2016 courtesy Laurie Candela.

Lisa phoned me yesterday.  It was a timely phone call.  I mentioned that I have been blogging about the famous American artist Norman Rockwell.  I knew she would be very familiar with the name, but other than that, I wasn't sure what she would remember about his work.  One by one, I went over the paintings I had chosen.  One by one, Lisa pointed out details that only an art connoisseur would know.

http://www.best-norman-rockwell-art.com/1954-choir-boy-combing-hair-for-easter.html

Lisa remembered the ever popular Saying Grace.  She recalled Shuffleton's Barbershop.  But when I came to Before the Shot, she started to warm up.  "That's the one with the giant syringe," she explained.  I mentioned Choir Boy Combing Hair at Easter and Lisa pointed out:  "The boy's mouth was open as he looked at himself in the mirror."  When I brought up Walking to Church, Lisa said:  "Yes, they all have Bibles tucked under their arms."  I was thoroughly impressed when she perked up at the mention of Marriage License, saying:  "The bride has a bright yellow dress on."  When I said the title Art Critic, Lisa said:  "Yes, he's the one with the large palette of paints in his hand."



                                     

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/78742693460688833/

 I started this month's blog topic with the post "It's All in the Details". The details Lisa remembered seven and a half years after the stroke are quite remarkable, considering they come from a woman who sat in a coma for six weeks.  There was a time when the doctor would pound on her chest, just looking for any response like the flickering of an eyelid or the twitching of a toe.  Now she has lengthy, stimulating conversations about art.  When I pointed out my amazement, Lisa's response was simply:  "This is what I do."



                                     

http://www.biography.com/news/norman-rockwell-art-facts

I am studying Max Lucado's Grace:  More Than We Deserve; Greater Than We Imagine in Bible Study this year.  Seven and a half years ago I never could have imagined my recent phone conversation with my sister, Lisa.  God's grace comes in many forms:  a yellow dress, a boy's expression of surprise, a palette of paints.  It's grace in a painting.  God's grace.



                                   

http://christianmotivations.weebly.com/christian-motivations-blog/category/max%20lucado/20





Lisa Allison's painting circa 2016 courtesy Laurie Candela.