The Foundation: An Attitude of Gratitude

Are you a morning person? By that, I mean do you wake up ready to take on the day? If not, why not?

My Wife recently made an observation; she said that after 21 years of marriage, she is still surprised at how I am able to wake up and immediately be wide awake. She asked, "How can you be awake so quickly and ready to attack the day?" I thought about it for a minute, searching the "why" and "how." I responded with what I felt was a pretty simple answer. I said, "It's really easy to hit the ground running when the first two words you think of when you wake up are, 'thank you!'"

I've done a lot of study around personal development. I've read most of the books and studied a lot of "successful" people. It's my firm belief that to have true success in life, it all starts with an attitude of gratitude.

Every one of us have things in our lives to be thankful for. If we will just turn our focus to those things and stop wasting time on bitterness, regret, disappointments, and failures, our lives will be richer and our days fuller. Studies also show, grateful people are happier and healthier!

My Wife and I learned this gratitude lesson a number of years ago. We call it "counting your stones." It comes from the Old Testament story of Joshua. As the Israelites were finally going to advance into the promised land, God parted the waters of the Jordan River. As they crossed, He instructed Joshua to choose 12 men, one from each tribe, to carry a stone from the riverbed to the other side of the river. Joshua stacked the 12 stones as a memorial to what God had done for them.

When facing a difficulty, obstacle or even just having a "down day," my Wife and I remember back to other times when we overcame equally or even more difficult times and we are instantly lifted up. That's "counting your stones!" It is amazing how effective and powerful this exercise can be. If you never stop being grateful for the good things that have happened in your life, you'll continually be astounded at what you will be able to conquer and add to your stack of stones.

This week, see if every morning before your feet hit the ground, you can't think of 3 things you are thankful for. And when facing a difficult situation where victory seems impossible and doubt and discouragement start rising up within you, start counting your stones and turn that situation around!

The foundation of success is choosing an attitude of gratitude!!

He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.” Joshua 4:21-24 (NIV)