Go Sports Life

Be Grateful

People love to be around people who are grateful.  It is a joy to be around people who are grateful for what they have and what they get to do.  Ever since we took on the task of raising $5000 for Victoria I've been grateful that I've had such a great group of girls and parent's to help out with this task.  What you guys did for that little girl and her family is truly amazing.  This experience has reinforced my feelings of gratefulness for what I have. 

I once heard of this man named Pete who was very depressed, always down and he felt like nothing ever went his way.  He was feeling lousy and he kept complaining to people all the time about all of his problems and eventually he was able to add one more problem to that list; that nobody wanted to talk to him anymore because all he did was complain.

Well one day this man went into talk to his pastor about all of his problems and he started in with his usual routine of how things never go right for him.  His pastor had heard this before so before Pete even got going about all of his problems the pastor said Pete I'm going to take this piece of paper and draw a line down the middle.  On the right side we're going to list everything that is wrong with your life.  On the left side I'm going to write down everything that is good with your life.

Pete said that he didn't think that one side of the paper would be enough for all of his problems.  With an eyebrow raised at that statement the pastor said "Pete I'm terribly sorry to hear about your wife and her passing." 

Pete said what are you talking about my wife is perfectly fine and healthy! 

Then the pastor said "Pete I'm terribly sorry to hear that you lost your job and you have no money."

Pete responded that he still had a job and he wasn't poor.

Next the pastor said "Pete I'm also terribly sorry to hear that you only have a week left to live due to your illness."

Pete caught on after that one and said "Pastor I have perfect health and I see what you are doing."

After just 5 minutes Pete had more than filled up one piece of paper with everything that was right with his life and only had a couple of things on the side that was for the problems.

 It is much easier for us to see what is right with our lives when we open our eyes and look.  You don't even have to look that hard. 

Each day you wake up you should be grateful for the Gift of Today.  The fact that you get to wake up in good health is a wonderful thing.  I was reading about this gentleman, one of the wealthiest men in all of the United States.  Worth well over a billion dollars.  He had more money than any of us could spend.  But the problem was that he didn't have his health.  He spent years going from hospital to hospital trying all kinds of different treatments, just trying to get better.  Do you know how much he would have given just to have his health?  He would have given it all.  Think about that.  How many of you would give a billion dollars to feel like you feel today?  You may not have everything you like, but keep it in perspective.  If you have your health you are extremely wealthy.  If you can walk, you can talk, you can see, you can sing, you have something that a billion dollars couldn't even buy.  Don't take for granted the fact that you were able to get out of bed this morning without any assistance.  When you opened your eyes, you could see.  When you told your legs to walk, they obeyed.  When you went to the kitchen, you had food to eat.  Some of you probably had too much of it, but that's OK.

Our last story comes from a high school football player who played in Texas.  He was one of the best running backs in the state when he was playing.  He was getting calls from all of the best colleges asking him to come and play for them.  He was really good and dreamed one day of playing in the NFL.  One day though he started complaining about having pain in his right knee and he went in and saw a doctor about it.  After a couple of weeks of testing the doctors gave him the bad news.  The young football player had cancer in his leg and if they did not amputate his leg immediately the cancer would spread to the rest of his body and he would die.  This devastated the kid.  The thought of going from dreams of being a possible NFL player to not being able to walk was a lot to handle.  

There was no choice though, he had to have the surgery.  However, when the doctors went into operate on his leg they found out that they had mis-diagnosed what was actually in his knee.  It turned out to just be a weird shaped bone cyst in his knee that could be removed easily and they did not have to amputate the leg.  When the young football player woke up and saw he still had his leg he wept and wept out of the joy he had for still having his leg.

I know all of you go through tough days.  You get yelled at by your parents.  You get blamed for something you didn't even do.  Someone switched the radio station while your favorite song was playing.  Whatever it is, keep it in perspective. 

Now each of these stories about people with poor health may seem a bit depressing, but they're not.  They're inspiring.  You see these people show us that no matter what is going on with us, we can always be grateful for something.  And if we're grateful then people like to be around us.  If you've got those two things going for you you've got a great start on having a bunch of other things go your way too.  So now I ask you to add to your list of things to tell yourself each morning when you wake up.  And you can also remind yourself that over the past month you were able to help send a little girl and her family to Disneyland.  You can be extremely proud of that.