Be Grateful!

My Granddaddy once told me true GREATNESS couldn't begin until one is truly GRATEFUL!!! Someone else told me that the greatest virtue of them all is gratefulness. I've also heard somewhere that all other virtues come from gratefulness.

Hmm… So I guess that’s the Secret! To live a truly great and virtuous life one must be truly grateful!

Why? What is it about gratefulness that is so powerful? Haven’t we all seen people around us who don’t appear to be grateful for anything and still seem to be winning?

Well, this ungrateful person that you claim is winning is most likely only winning in the interim. Once you’re more able to fully see the big picture, you’ll probably see how this person is sabotaging himself or herself. You’ll probably also be able to see that their victories were really short-term, rather than long-term, and short-lived rather than long-lived.

Being grateful is really the only way to live your life! Being grateful will allow you to appreciate where you presently are at the present time. Being grateful will also allow you to appreciate your small victories, on your long road of constant and never-ending deliberate improvement.

In contrast, not being grateful, like the person mentioned earlier, robs you of the only thing you truly have; the Precious Present.  And then to add insult to injury, it also robs you of your future…

So check yourself right now! How do you feel? Are you feeling grateful? Are you feeling lucky?

There is a reason you know why they call this exact moment the present. It’s because it’s a gift. And so is the next moment, and the next one after that, too. Are you gratefully taking full advantage of the present?

Now teens, go learn, lead, and lay the way to a better world for all of us. Remember to be grateful for everything you have, as well as every precious moment that you have; both truly are the Precious Present! And once again, thank you in advance, and I’m grateful, for all that you do, and all that you will do…