Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 479 of our trek, and today is Motivation Monday. Every Monday we hike the trails of life that will encourage and motivate us to live rich and satisfying lives this week. Today let us explore the trail called “Attitude Check.”
We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. With Thanksgiving quickly approaching in the US, we have much to be thankful for. Our attitude about life strongly influences our level of gratitude. We should always practice an “Attitude of Gratitude” each day. There is nothing more valuable or significant in determining our success in life than our attitude. As we break camp and head out on our trek for today, let us invest time exploring the concept of…
Earlier in my life I obtained my private pilot’s license and went on to also become instrument rated. Obtaining my pilot’s license required a lot of time and expense, but I learned many lessons about life through the process. For instance, when learning to fly, a frequent term that is heard from the flight instructor is “Attitude check!” That might not mean much to you at first, or you might wonder why it would be used when flying. Why would the flight instructor care if my attitude is good?
When flying an airplane, small or large, the word “attitude” can be a life-or-death word for a pilot. It is a very important term when flying because a plane’s “attitude” is its position relative to the ground, to the horizon. After many hours of flying and also reading stories about pilots that have taken off and landed on aircraft carriers, the importance of a plane’s attitude can be summarized this way, “Right attitude, you keep flying. Wrong attitude, you stop flying.” And stopping in this way is not advisable.
When flying by the plane’s instruments, that is when conditions won’t let you fly visually, you adjust your attitude based on an instrument called your artificial horizon. It actually shows you where the real horizon is. But when you can’t see any points of reference, your senses start playing tricks on you. One veteran pilot said that even he has to sometimes fight his instincts and feelings that are telling him lies about whether he’s going up or down. The only thing that’s telling him the truth is his artificial horizon.
Life’s like that too. The attitude that was popularized a few years ago,“If it feels good, do it,” has had a disastrous effect on many an individual and on much of our society, which has become incredibly permissive. As such, we are on an ever-increasing slippery slope downward.
Feelings can be one of the most dangerous directives to follow when it comes to choosing between a right and a wrong course of action. The instrument God has given to us to keep our attitude right is His Word, the Bible. We go against His directives to our peril. As Christians, we are to do...
