"Are you hanging on until you’re ripe?"

When I lived on the coast of North Carolina, just across the road from us was a field of about a hundred acres of strawberry plants. The owners ran an international plant shipping business and harvested berries to sell.

Migrant workers began picking in early April each year. Most if not all of the strawberries they harvested weren’t ripe, mostly red on the outside, but not through the middle. They didn’t spoil like this on the way to the store.

Well, around the end of April or the first of May, the migrant workers stopped picking. There were no longer enough slightly ripened berries in the field. And then the owners called us, telling us we could glean in the fields whatever we wanted.

So we would pick until our backs hurt. And these berries were better than any you can buy because they had stayed on the plant until they were fully ripe, through and through.Are you the same through and through?

Are you on the vine with God long enough to ripen? Hang onto God as you make a life, not just a living.

"Is it worth it?"

Does life seem hardly worth it sometimes? Like everything you try doesn’t work? As if it’s just not worth the effort?

A woman was at her husband’s funeral. Just before the service, the funeral director came over to her and asked if she needed anything. “No, I’m fine,” she said.

“Good,” he said. “The minister wanted me to ask your husband’s age.”

“He was 98 years old,” she said, “just two years older than me.”

“Oh,” the funeral director said, “so you’re 96 years old.”

“Yes, I am,” she said, “hardly seems worth it for me to go home, doesn’t it?”

You know, we all have days like that, days when it hardly seems worth it to go home, or keep trying, or whatever else is tough for you. The only people not experiencing those kinds of days are the folks who’ve either quit trying or died.

So when you’re having one of those days, just keep at it, hang in there, persevere, and don’t give up. God created life as a marathon, not a sprint so just keep on keepin’ on as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

"Do you make a difference?"

I was on my way somewhere but had to stop by a bank before leaving town. So I found a branch, pulled up to the drive-through in an open lane, and stopped to make a deposit.

As I put the window down, I noticed the woman in the lane beside me smiling. I smiled back, thinking how nice she seemed. Then after I finished putting my deposit in the box, she started waving. And I waved back, not wanting to be unfriendly, but now I’m wandering if I’m supposed to know her or what her intentions are.

Well then, she rolls her passenger window down and says, “I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy reading your column in the paper. I read it every day! It really helps me a lot.”

And I said, “I’m so glad it does. You’ve helped me today, too. Thanks!”

She helped me to remember that there really are lots of friendly people still in the world and that what one person does really can make a difference. Do what God gives you to do and make a difference as you listen to life today.

"Is the grass always greener to you?"

I recently talked with a mother of two preschool children and asked her how it was going. “Well,” she said, “my two-year-old has a stomach virus and is really pitiful right now.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said, “I remember what a trying time that can be.”

“Keeping his older sister away from him is part of the challenge” she told me. “I don’t want her to catch it,” she said.

“That’s a good idea,” I said. “All four of us had a horrific stomach virus once…and with only three bathrooms.”

“Well,” she said, “she wishes she had the stomach virus.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I tried to tell her she doesn’t want it,” the mother said, “but she says she wants it because then her little brother would have to stay away from her.”

The grass is always greener, isn’t it? Until you get over to the other side of the hill and discover the reality of living there.

Love the life you have and listen to it for God to guide you to where you can best make a life and not just a living.

"Do you hibernate?"

I received an email from a fellow who does video production. He really loves his work. In fact, when I commented on the late hour of his email, he said, “Yea, but I love my work! The hours don’t matter when you love what you do!”

“I’m glad you love your work,” I wrote back. “Everyone should, but just remember—the hours do add up and take their toll on you. You are a human BEING, not a human DOING.”

“Man, you’re so right,” he wrote back. “I’m so exhausted. I just returned from shooting footage in Sri Lanka. I’ve got to hibernate for a while and figure some things out. The devastation was so great and overwhelming. I’ve got to get some time to think about what it all means.”

You know, every single one of us was created by God to make a unique contribution in the world. Working is just one contribution we can make. There are so many others that enrich and fulfill our lives—family, community, faith groups. And all of us must hibernate to figure things out every now and then.

Listen to life today and make a life, not just a living.