A True Story — by Margie Seyfer
When I speak, I tell my audiences, “As you get out of bed each morning and stumble into the bathroom, jump-start each day with a positive attitude. Look in the mirror and say, ‘Good Morning. I love you. We’re going to have a great day!'”
Jill implemented this plan at home when their Sunday scramble to church had become a war. It was a fight to get her family out of bed and dressed. Yet, despite all her raving and ranting, they always arrived late, surrounded by an angry cloud of silence.
One Sunday, she tried her new affirmation. She stood over her husband’s side of the bed and whispered in his ear, “Good Morning. I love you! We’re going to have a great day!”
Dan opened one eye and said, “What? Are you crazy?”
She just smiled and went across the hallway to their five-year-old son’s bedroom. She opened the door and repeated the greeting. Jeff rolled over and said, “You’re wrong, Mom. We’re going to have a bad day!”
She smiled again and went across the hallway to check on Dan. She couldn’t believe it. He was already up, dressing!
She trotted back to Jeff’s room. To her surprise he too was out of bed, putting on his clothes!
That Sunday was the first in a month of Sundays they arrived at church on time and still liking one another.
So, Jill turned this greeting into a morning ritual. She had been especially worried about her five-year-old’s negative attitude. Each morning, she woke Jeff with her new greeting, and each morning, he gave her some sort of a cynical retort.
Her worries ended when one morning, she opened his bedroom door and before she could speak, Jeff looked up at her with his big brown eyes and said, “Good Morning. I love you, Mom. We’re going to have a great day!”
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Reprinted by permission of Margie Seyfer (c) 1998 from Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul II by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and LeAnn Thieman, L.P.N. In order to protect the rights of the copyright holder, no portion of this publication may be reproduced without prior written consent. All rights reserved.