"Got a sign?"

What’s your sign? If you’re a plumber, it might be: “We repair what your husband fixed.”

Or, if you run a tire shop: “Invite us to your next blowout.”

Or, have a tow truck: “We don't charge an arm and a leg. We want tows.”

Or, put on the maternity room door: "Push. Push. Push."

And, if you’re an optometrist: "If you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place."

And a podiatrist: "Time wounds all heels."

And, if you run a car dealership: "The best way to get back on your feet—miss a car payment."

Or, own a muffler shop: "No appointment necessary. We hear you coming."

Or, if you’re a veterinarian, you could put up this sign in your waiting room: "Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"

Or, if you’re God: “I love you this much!”

"Do you assume you know a lot?"

A teacher gave a test to her first grade class. “Give me a sentence about a public servant," she said. Johnny wrote, “The fireman came down the ladder pregnant.”

Later in the day, the teacher was grading the papers. She read his answer and decided to take him aside to correct him. “Don't you know what pregnant means?” she said.

“Sure,” said the young boy confidently.

“Well,” the teacher said, “what does it mean?”

And Johnny said, “It means carrying a child.”

I don’t know about you, but it seems that you and I are a lot more like Johnny than we want to admit. We think we know more than we do. We write our own life sentences without asking God what we should write.

Today, before you assume you know more than you do, stop for just a minute, and ask the Master Teacher what your life means, and what you should write down. That’s a great way to listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

"Who do you fight?"

I went out on the porch off of my home office, just to get some air for a few minutes; you know, taking a break. As I stepped out on the porch, I almost stepped on this beautiful, red-headed woodpecker that was dead. I was stunned that such a gorgeous bird was dead on my porch. He was too big for our cats to attack, but I looked him over carefully anyway, and there was no blood, no obvious signs of attack.

So I turned around to see what he would have seen on the porch and there it was—my own reflection in the glass door. It was mating season at the time and evidently he saw his reflection in the glass door, thought it was another male to be fought off from his territory, and just kept attacking it until he died. That explained why there was no sign of attack. He just kept banging his head on the door until he died.

How often do you fight yourself? Injuring yourself when you think you’re hurting someone else? I guess we all do it, don’t we? But we don’t have to.

Find God’s plan for peace as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

"God is good even during war, right?"

Here’s some email I received recently:

“My nephew is a Marine Staff Sergeant and goes into Southern Iraq today. I know I've asked you to keep him in your prayers. I always ask everyone to keep all the guys in their prayers, but if they would say a special one for him. I feel guilty sometimes asking for a special one just for him, but I guess it's the mother/aunt in me! I was 13 when he was born. I lived beside him and babysat him each summer. We have always been very close. I told him he has an angel on his shoulder and that God is watching out after him. I hope these words will comfort him through his journey.

“I went shopping today to get some things to send all the 21 guys and 1 girl in his unit. Then this afternoon I pulled out your Listen to Life: The First Book and I thought what a good idea it would be to send one to each of them. If I get you their names, could you sign it for them?”

There are opportunities even in war to connect people with God’s love, aren’t there? If you’re listening to life and making a life, not just a living...

"Who are you remembering today?"

Today’s Memorial Day, the day when Americans remember the war veterans who sacrificed their lives for their country. But it’s also a day when we remember other people and their special contributions to us.

A lot of people fly flags today to remember our war veterans. When remembering other family members and friends, some folks go put flowers on graves. Remembering those we loved is important to us.

We had a dog, Charlie, who died around Christmas and our family looked for a way to remember him. And we found one—we adopted another Yellow Lab named Cody. Cody looks a lot like Charlie, plays a lot like Charlie did, and reminds us in a lot of ways of Charlie. So I guess the best memorial we could make to Charlie was to adopt someone like him.

Find someone today who reminds you of your loved one…and adopt him or her…and your loved one’s memory lives on. How do you find this someone? Just listen to your life and make a life, not just a living today.