Hindsight

When I read, The No-Complaining Rule, by Jon Gordon I was struck by his usage of a Gallup Poll(pg.117.)  He cited a British study of 400 people which showed that when something bad happened to them they attempted to use it for a springboard into something good.  To turn misfortune into fortune!

They identified 5 deeply held beliefs that aided them:

#1.  Trust in a bigger plan.  Believe there is a God who is at work in your life with a phenomenal purpose that you may not be totally able to grasp.

#2.  Find strength in adversity.  Be like General Patton during World War II, “I was born for this time!”

#3.  Failure today leads to success tomorrow.  Like Woody Allen said, “Eighty percent of success is just showing up!” 

#4.  The worst event in life is often a catalyst for the best.  Crisis is often the very thing that motivates people to seek God.

#5.  Positive or Negative- the choice is ours.  

I like Chuck Swindoll’s quote about attitude:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is 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 everyday 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% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

If we’re going to grow to maturity in Christ we’ve got to be solution focused and attitude adjusted!