Heber J. Grant Practices Until the Gift Comes: From Hen Tracks to Championship — Faith Made Tangible

Heber J. Grant grew up without natural talents. His handwriting was called 'hen tracks.' He could not throw a baseball well enough for any team. His singing was poor. He was aware of every deficiency.

But he believed that gifts of God came through determined effort and faith. And he went to work.

He shined boarders' boots to earn a dollar, bought a baseball, and spent hour after hour throwing it against a neighbor's barn. He threw until his arm ached so much he could not sleep. He was eventually mocked so frequently that he made himself a solemn promise: he would play on the championship team of Utah Territory.

He kept his promise.

He applied the same principle to his handwriting and his singing. In each case, the pattern was the same: determined effort, faith that God would honor it, and the gradual arrival of what could not have come by natural ability alone.

As a Church leader he testified plainly: 'I know that the gift of God is a reality, that I have seen the sick raised.'

His lesson was not about baseball or penmanship. It was about the nature of divine gifts. Faith is not passive. It practices, persists, and acts, and God meets that effort with power that cannot otherwise be obtained.

Heber J. Grant became the seventh President of the Church. Those who knew him remembered not a man of natural gifts, but a man whose faith had turned weakness into consecrated strength.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Heber J. Grant - Wikipedia):

He was known for his determination to achieve goals that were seemingly beyond his reach. As a child, he wanted to join the baseball team that would win the Utah territorial championship, but others believed him to be too physically awkward to be successful. In response, he purchased a baseball and practiced throwing the ball for hours against his barn to improve. The team that he joined later won the championship. In similar fashion, Grant expressed a desire to be a successful bookkeeper although many of his associates criticized his penmanship. He practiced his writing to the point that he was invited to teach penmanship at one of the local academies.