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Friday, June 17, 2005

"Who's your daddy?"

You know, there’s a difference between being a father and being a daddy.

Being a father is about biology. Being a daddy is about being there when you learn to ride your bike or hit a baseball or score a soccer goal.

Being a father is about buying a house. Being a daddy is about creating a home, a place and space where you know you can go no matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done.

Being a father is about not sparing the rod. Being a daddy is about teaching you how to measure up to your full potential as a person, about having integrity and playing fair and treating others the way you want them to treat you.

Being a father is about ruling your household. Being a daddy is about respecting your wife and children, and earning their respect by doing the right thing by them.

Being a father is about making a living. Being a daddy is about listening and making a life, and taking time to hear about your wows and your woes.

This Sunday, I pray you can wish “Happy Daddy’s Day” to yours!

Thursday, June 16, 2005

"Where's your nest?"

You may have heard me talk before about a bird’s nest on top of a column on the front porch of our home. I noticed some years ago that a bird built a nest on top of the column, laid eggs, hatched them, and we enjoyed watching her feed the baby birds, seeing them grow, test their wings and fly away. We had that privilege again this year with the hatchlings flying away on Mother’s Day. And again this year, that was just the first batch.

You see each year—and again this year—within a week of that first batch hatching and flying away, another mother bird comes in, customizes the nest to her specifications, and lays her eggs. She hatches them, and raises them up until they fly away. We average three clutches of eggs hatched in that one nest each spring.

Rather than tear that nest down after the third hatching, I leave it up each year, providing the mother bird with a ready-made nest that needs just a little fixing up. It seems to me that’s how God treats us—giving us everything we need to be successful as we listen to life and make a life.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

"Are you aging today?"

I was thinking about aging the other day. It seems to me that we want to live to be 100 years old, but none of us want to look it. We want to be 100, but look 25. So we rub lotions and potions on our wrinkles to hide them. And when we can’t hide them, we inject them with botox. And when that doesn’t work, we nip, tuck, lift, and pull.

And what about our hair and teeth? We don’t want our hair to turn white, but we can’t get our teeth white enough.

So we put stuff on our hair to keep the white covered up and stuff on our teeth to bleach the brown. We want our teeth white and our hair dark.

Sure, your body ages, but your spirit lives eternally. So what kind of shape is your spirit in? Are you growing your spirit closer to God everyday by listening to life and making a life, not just a living? Or, do you just keep applying stuff to it, too?

Today, just for today, try taking a little time out to spend with God. Talk to God. Listen to God. Do what God says. And see how much younger you feel.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

"How do you like your tea?"

Did you know that here in the U.S. June is National Iced Tea Month?

Now for those who grew up in the southern U.S., I suspect every month is National Iced Tea Month. Most likely you were weaned on iced tea and probably sugar-sweetened iced tea. You drink sweet iced tea with at least two meals a day and maybe even for breakfast, too. For you, iced tea is…well, normal.

But go to another part of the world, like the Orient, and iced tea isn’t normal. When you ask for tea, it’s not iced, but hot. It may not be black tea, but green tea. And you drink it from a tiny cup, not a 20 ounce tumbler filled with ice cubes.

What’s interesting to me as I listen to life is that so many of us assume everyone else grew up like we did, e.g., gulping iced tea or sipping hot tea, and that our way is the right way. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Since God has the whole world in hand, expand your horizons a bit today and accept others as they are, regardless of how they drink tea.

Monday, June 13, 2005

"Are you ready for an opportunity?"

I was cleaning up around the farm. We had some remodeling done and I was loading up the scrap materials into the truck bed to haul off to the dumpster. I couldn’t get it all in there so I knew I’d have to make two trips.

One of our yellow labs, the “old man” of the bunch, Cody, was helping me. You know, keeping me company by walking and sniffing around while I worked. Since he was so helpful, I offered him a ride down the road to the dumpster. I opened the door, he hopped in, and away we went.

We returned. I let Cody out and began loading up again. Before I left, our puppy, Jake barked at me like he wanted to go on the second trip. So when I finished loading, I brought him over to the truck, opened the door, and he wouldn’t get in. He is, after all, just a puppy, and the only time he gets to leave the farm is to go to the vet’s office. So he wouldn’t get in the truck.

Sometimes we’re like Jake—we think we want to do something until we have the opportunity. Then we won’t get in. Ask God to help you get over your fear and just get into life as God leads you. That’s the way to listen to life and make a life!