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I don’t think I have ever heard an interview with David Archuleta that I was not able to glean some wisdom about the art of living. David is so young, yet he gets so much of it so right. One of his best attributes, and one of the things about David that I think is key to understanding him, is his sense of gratitude. But I did not fully appreciate the impact of gratitude until I read a blog by John Fischer* about the POWER of gratitude.
“It’s hard to think of one vice that the virtue of thankfulness cannot render useless. One does not need to steal when one is thankful. A man does not covet his neighbor’s wife when he is thankful for his own. No one craves more when he is grateful for what he has. In the same way, a thankful heart cancels out pride and arrogance. No need to judge other people when you are thankful for who you are. No need to measure yourself by and compare yourself to others when you are thankful for what God has done in your life.”
Humility not arrogance, inclusiveness not judgments, hope and thankfulness instead of a shred of bitterness… It all reminds me of David’s steadfast and sincere refusal to take a second place win on American Idol as anything less than the best thing that ever happened to him. David lives his life grateful for every blessing that comes his way. And for David, it’s all blessings. So I am grateful to David for putting his words and actions to this theory of gratitude. He might not ever know that I love seeing this beautiful truth at work in him almost as much as I love hearing him sing.
Some other quotes about gratitude:
Buddha:
Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.
Cicero:Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
G. K. Chesterton:You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.
* http://www.fischtank.com/ft/
The Voice David Archuleta 