Brussel sprouts + bunch of grapes = Attitude?

Yesterday, I was chatting with a lady at the Post Office and I asked her what she did on the weekend. Her reply “Nothing” was corrected by her friend who asked “What did you buy?” “Oh yes, I went shopping and bought a new stereo unit” “and..”said the friend “And I went out to a restaurant for lunch with my husband” My reply was “That sounds like something to me.”

Which made me think again of how thoroughly spoilt we can be here in Australia. Now, I don’t want to sound like my mother who, when I was a small girl and wouldn’t eat my cold brussel sprouts and runny cabbage, would say “Carolyn, don’t be so ungrateful! Think of the starving children in Africa.” Well, I thought of them but it didn’t make my cabbage and brussel sprouts taste any better.

My husband and I have just gone through 7 years of financial difficulties. During those years, it was sometimes very difficult to remember that we lived in the Lucky Country. So, to remind myself, I bought a plaque to hang on the front porch. It is a bunch of grapes. Why a bunch of grapes? There’s a saying in the Bible which really spoke to me. It goes like this: “Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines.. yet I will rejoice in the Lord”. The bunch of grapes reminds me to rejoice regardless of circumstances. It really helped to look for the Silver Lining in situations. I learned to have an Attitude of Gratitude.

Perhaps life isn’t going the way you’d like it to. Perhaps you can’t see the fruit of your labour at the moment. I want to encourage you to walk through the day with an Attitude of Gratitude regardless. It does help to make each moment more pleasurable.  What’s your ‘bunch of grapes’? - please leave your comment.

This video is one way to remind us all how lucky we are living here in Australia.

Have a wonderful day

Carolyn