Attitude
Pastor Chuck Swindoll believes that life is 10% what happens and 90% how we respond to it.
According to Pastor Chuck Swindoll, “Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.”
He continues, “I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bank account, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress....It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitude is right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.”
The blueprint for a resilient life is rarely drawn by our external surroundings; instead, it is drafted within the quiet corners of our own minds. While we often obsess over the “walls” being built around us—the circumstances, the past, or the balance of a bank account—these represent a mere 10 percent of our reality. The remaining 90 percent is found in our response. This requires daily diligence to look past the “stifling” events of the day and choose a perspective that refuses to be dictated by the wind and waves. When we realize that our response is the only thing we truly own, we move from being victims of our environment to active participants in our purpose.
This choice of attitude is the single most significant decision we make because it outweighs every worldly “measuring rod” used to define us. Our education, our successes, and even the opinions of others can attempt to “assault our hope,” but they are hollow compared to a heart that is rightly ordered. When we anchor our attitude in Jesus’ promise of everlasting life to whoever believes in Him for it, the “fame or pain” of the moment loses its power to cripple our progress. We are no longer burdened by the need to protect a fragile ego or a temporary position; instead, we find a “carefree” freedom that allows us to walk through the world with a fire that circumstances cannot extinguish.
Ultimately, a Christ-ward attitude acts as the fuel for our mission and the shield for our peace. It is the life-saving message in action, proving that there is no valley too deep or barrier too high when our focus is fixed on the Savior. We can decide each morning to transform every challenge into an opportunity for growth.