Last week was a tough week. My brother-in-law, Herb, passed away unexpectedly. Two weekends earlier, we had a family pool swimming, laughing, and enjoying each other. Then, about a week later, he passed away.
I had the privilege and honor to speak at his service on behalf of the family about a great man – Herb Birkenhauer.
Herb was a great son, brother, brother-in-law, Uncle, Grandfather, Father, Friend, and Husband for 43 years. He also was a great teacher!
A teacher on how to live Life!
A little note hung on his refrigerator as a reminder and guide on how he lived his Life every day, even when facing Cancer!
This little note centered around one word: how Herb lived. One word that Herb’s family believes defined how he approached each day is ATTITUDE!
It’s easy to have a great attitude when things are going great.
But what about those hard days?
How about those dark days?
How is your Attitude in those moments?
These words were his secret weapon to get through those hard days. Herb never complained, but he was there to listen and encourage others to adopt the same positive Attitude.
He wanted to help others. A few weeks ago, my nephew Adam told me that his mom, Carol, asked him to replace a chimney cap on the roof. When Adam showed up, Herb had already climbed up on the top and fixed it, saying to Adam, in his sweet way, Let’s keep this between us!
Herb was here for many reasons, and one I believe in my heart was to teach us how we approach our days, especially those challenging moments. Perhaps we can use it to guide our lives and business. We can learn to react, learn, and grow from every situation.
Here is what Herb read every morning – Attitude from Charles Swindoll.
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of Attitude on Life. It is more important than the past, education, money, circumstances, failures, successes, and what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, or a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the Attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the past; we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, which is our Attitude. I am convinced that Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you that we are in charge of our Attitude!
One word we all have control over when facing those challenging moments – is our Attitude!
Remembering, Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% how you react.
The world would be better if we had more people like Herb!
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