Hepatitis C patients are probably more time conscious than most folks. Every minute of it is precious to us.  Having Hepatitis C can make you view time from a different perspective.  Time.  We can’t put it in a bottle. We can’t speed it up or slow it down.  It is ever moving.  What we do with it however makes a significant difference with one key ingredient, attitude.

I came across a very inspiring story about attitude and the powerful effect it has on the gift we have each day, time. This story is found in The Power of Attitude by Mac Anderson. 

The Choice is yours.  Late one afternoon, a skinny young man dashed down the steps at his school to check out the bulletin board by the gym.  His heart was pounding as he saw the list that would tell if he had realized his dream of making the high school basketball team.

He read it again and again, each time with the same result—his name was not there.  He had failed.  That day, that moment, would change his life.  For the next year, regardless of the weather, he practiced four to six hours every day in a park about a mile from his home.

Many nights he was alone under the moonlight, practicing every move, every shot that he needed to make next year’s team.  The ending is a happy one.  He did make the team—and Michael Jordan, on the heels of failure, went on to become the greatest basketball player of all time.

What is the lesson to be learned from the Michael Jordan story? It is this. . . your success or failure in life will not be decided by the number of setbacks you encounter, but rather how you react to them.  Jordan had a choice.  He could take his defeat personally, blame the coach,,, and throw in the towel, or he could do what he did—-keep working, keep trying.

Would Jordan ever have achieved greatness had he not fought back from failure?  My guess is no.  I believe with all my heart that, “Whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”  If you choose a positive approach in difficult times, you can take control of your life. Reaching out to Christ is the best way to begin an attitude adjustment. Reach out, and grab hold my friends.

Of all the material I’ve ever read about the importance of maintaining a positive attitude, this classic essay from Charles Swindoll is my favorite.

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, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, 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 every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.  We cannot change our pasts, we cannot change the fact that people will react 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 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.  And so it is with you—-we are in charge of our attitudes.

Hep C Warriors, your heavenly Father is by YOUR side to help you finish YOUR race. Whatever the hurdles, disappointments, frustrations, difficulties or challenges that are before you, you are not alone. You can find your strength to carry on through Him.

I believe as Hep C Warriors, this special scripture echoes the very heart of this story of how great our attitudes effect our time and what we do with it.   “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”   Galatians 6:9 NIV

This entry was originally published on Life Beyond Hepatitis C, and is reprinted with permission.