YOUR ATTITUDE MATTERS

"For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." - Matthew 12:37 

Jerry was always in a good mood. He always had a positive thing to say. Ask him, "how are you?" He'd reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!” If an employee were having a bad day, Jerry was sure to show them the positive side. “I don’t get it! You can’t be positive all the time. How do you do it?” Tina asked. “I say to myself each morning, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or not. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time I see someone sad, I can choose to accept their sadness or I can point out the positive side. I choose the positive side.” He replied. “Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” Tina protested. “Yep, it is,” Jerry quipped.

Tina reflected on what Jerry said. She left the restaurant to start a business. Several years later, he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. He was shot. Luckily, he was found quickly and rushed to the hospital. After hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was discharged. They met 6 months after the accident. "How are you", she asked, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?” She asked "what went through your mind during the robbery?" “I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “As I lay on the floor, I remembered; I could choose to live, or I could choose to die.
I chose to live.” “Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” She asked. “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room. I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.” “What did you do?” She asked. “Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. "She asked if I were allergic to anything. Yes, I replied. They all stopped working waiting for my reply…I took a deep breath and yelled, Bullets! Over their laughter, I told them, "operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.""

Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, or rut, every situation is a choice. You can either react to situations, or respond to them. The bottom line is; it’s your choice how you live life. Every day we have the choice to live fully. Your attitude, after all, is everything, it'll determine your altitude. Choose how you start your day.