Fortunate

I have been searching for quotes lately that hold significance in my life. I have quotes posted on my fridge. Including one that I got from my grandma when we visited Florida in 2006, we went to the Kennedy Space Center while there. I wonder if it was in God's plan that it was also at a time in my life when I first moved to Ann Arbor? (Story for a whole different blog) Coincidence, maybe not. That quote stares me in the face everyday when I wake up and head to the fridge for something to drink. The quote, "Failure Is Not An Option." The quote is from a space mission, Apollo XIII, the words that several astronauts lived by as they made a voyage into space on April 11, 1970, after many failed attempts. Most of you have seen the movie, Apollo 13, or have had the advantage living through it. Not me, I was not even thought of yet, but I have seen the movie.

So recently I have been searching for quotes that I can add to my fridge along with pictures of family, loved ones and friends alike. I came across this quote from "The Great Gatsby" great movie, great book. I loved this quote for several reasons. After Christmas I was really feeling bad for several people in my path, to remain nameless, mostly for protection (the story is long and sad, but a lesson came from it for my kids and myself). I was feeling like I am not completely helpless, but I was also feeling like I really needed to get what I was experiencing out of me. I chose to stay proud and let it go. I was not going to criticize and be hurtful, that would put me at the level of the nameless. Instead I chose to go with this option...I am in control of the situation, I am in control of how I deal with this situation....and it worked. So then I came across this wonderful quote from a wonderful story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"When you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."
---The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

That quote is so true. If I think how great and wonderful and fortunate I am then those words make perfect sense to me. I am very lucky to be where I am and doing what I am doing, and to be here with the people who love me the most in the whole world. That mainly just encourages me to pray harder and more often for the people that are to remain nameless.

By the way, when I am really having trouble with the kids, work, school, personal problems, faith struggles, family tiffs, any problem really (mostly classes though) I look at my postcard that tells me failure is not an option and I remember what life is like when I let hope slip away. When I am hopeless, I am weak...not only do I know for sure that my strength only comes from the "BIG GUY", I know that it comes in several other forms and that is remembering where my life has been and where it is going. That keeps me strong and focused.