When you check out things on the internet, you're dipping into a seemingly bottomless well of facts and trivia. We'll start with the presumed author, Aesop, a Greek storyteller whose life is dated at around 620-564 BC. Some even question whether he wrote all the fables connected to him. If you need “can't-sleep” bedtime reading that goes on and on, check out his “Wikipedia” entry: Aesop - Wikipedia
Putting aside the question of authorship, let's just focus on this little tale set in somebody's grape arbor. Along comes a hungry fox. The grapes look delicious, but the arbor is too tall for the fox to jump up and eat some. After numerous tries, the fox gives up, saying, “The grapes are sour, and not ripe as I thought.” He hadn't even tasted them! The lesson from this little scene: Don't blame others for your failures.
While we're on the subject, you may be thinking of another motivational statement: “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.” This one is newer, attributed to two men. One was Robert the Bruce, Scotland's first king (reigning 1306-1329), known for persistence despite failures in leading Scotland to independence from English rule. It's also connected to American educator Thomas Palmer (1827-1897), whose writings encouraged perseverance, courage and persistence in moving past failure. Okay, you probably know his famed little poem with this excerpt:
'Tis a lesson you should heed, Try, try again./If at first you don't succeed, Try, try again./Then your courage should appear,/For it you will persevere,/You will conquer, never fear.
All these connections to a historic ditty are interesting. But there's another quote that's far more precious to me:
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” --the apostle Paul, writing to the Philippians (4:13)
Paul wasn't sitting in a cushy office with a nice view when he wrote that. He was under house arrest in Rome, and his Philippi audience was a long and hazardous six-week trip, about 800 miles, over sea and treacherous terrain. No plane, no train, no car. Just his “foot-postman” Epaphroditus.
Imagine what the Christian world would have lost if Epaphroditus hadn't hand-delivered Paul's letter. For one thing, it's my favorite book of the Bible for its message of joy in Christ, regardless of the circumstances. It's the “grapes” that are reachable because another Hand is reaching up beside mine—Hands with scars caused by divine and sacrificial love...on a cross.
