Gratitude

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It's more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It's more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude… I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you… we are in charge of out attitudes.

~ Charles Swindoll

I like reading this quote every once in a while to help ground me. I'd like to stress to each of you how beautiful today is and to embrace that. Yesterday was my wife's birthday. She turned 38. That's her third birthday since she was diagnosed with cancer. That's three glorious years that I've been able to spend with her that maybe shouldn't have been. You all know how close to not being here I was. That's two birthdays she's been able to spend with me.

Last week someone I worked with in the Columbus office passed away from an aneurysm. No warning. She was healthy otherwise. Today her husband (whom I also worked with) will be laying her to rest. She was only 50 and taken way too soon.

Please when you read this remember that you are here to read it. Take appreciation in what we have today because tomorrow it may not be here.