"Are you making a life or just a living?"

Making a life and making a living are both important. As I speak to business groups and coach business people, I discover that way too many of us make a living to the exclusion of making a life. So how can you tell when you’re just making a living and stopped making a life?

One way you can tell is you email the person who works at the desk next to you, rather than stepping around the petition to speak personally. Another way you can tell is that when you go home, you still answer the phone your business’ name and ask, “How may I help you?”

And you can tell you’re just making a living and stopped making a life when you make phone calls from home, and dial “9” to get an outside line. Another way you can tell is that you've sat at the same desk for four years, worked for three different companies, can name the dates each company took over, but forgot your anniversary this year.

The way to make a life, not just a living is to listen to life, all of life, not just your work life. God’s talking to you. Are you listening?

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"Do you step back?"

I admired a floral arrangement recently. My eyes first went to the stunning white flowers in the foreground of the arrangement. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them, until I realized that there were some more flowers behind them. In the back of the arrangement were some of the deepest-colored burgundy flowers you’ve ever seen. They were so very dark and it was easy to miss them in the arrangement. After all, they were in the back of the container and they were so dark compared to the white flowers that lit up the room.

It was then I realized that the reason the white flowers appeared so bright was because of the dark flowers in the background. The contrasting colors made the white flowers all the more brilliant.

Are you humble enough to step into the background and let someone else shine? As you listen to life, you discover—life’s not all about you! You can step back and another person can step up and your worth isn’t diminished. In fact, it’s enhanced because you valued another. Step back today and listen to life!

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"Are you romantic?"

Just in case you missed it, you have one more day—today—to celebrate Romance Awareness Month. That’s right, August was/is for today Romance Awareness Month.

Now you may be wondering what I did when I first discovered it: Why August? Here’s what I found out—the folks who declared August as Romance Awareness Month did so to encourage us to be loving all year long, not just on Valentine’s Day in February. Oh, well, that makes sense, doesn’t it?

Our tendency is to just rock along, doing life in our usual way, until something like Valentine’s Day comes along. Then virtually every married person and tons of single people think to themselves: “Oh yea! I need to be loving today.”

So why not make every day you can Valentine’s Day? Of course you don’t love that special someone in your life any more in February than you do in August. You simply express it more.

God’s love is yours every day you breathe. Share the love daily as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey

"Are you close to God?"

I hope our family isn’t the only one in America that doesn’t have cable or satellite TV. We’ve got the dish and all the cable run, but it’s not hooked up.

I hope our family isn’t the only one in America that’s not rushing children to some kind of structured activity every day of the week. Now don’t get me wrong—team sports and cultural activities are important, but not every day.

I hope our family isn’t the only one in America that doesn’t have more movies on DVD and VHS than books. We enjoy movies, but oh the places you go with a good book.

I hope our family isn’t the only one in America that doesn’t survive primarily in a steel-and-glass, concrete-curbed world. Some people enjoy living pushed together, but staying in touch with the earth—riding a horse in the rain, walking with a yellow Lab across a field, listening to the turkeys gobble—helps us thrive and stay grounded.

God is a part of all we do. But there are some things we do that bring us closer to God. Listen to life and make a life, not just a living close to God today.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey

"What are you learning?"

Here are some more lessons I’m learning as I listen to life:

It’s a lot easier to talk about someone than it is to get to know them.

Sure there are some mean people in the world, but I don’t have to be one of them.

Love overcomes fear even in times of terror.

There is a direct correlation between not going to the gym to workout and how much harder it is to get out of bed in the morning.

Prayer definitely changes things…and people because the more I pray, the more I change.

Puppies melt the hardest of hearts.

The only person I can control is myself, and frankly sometimes I’m not so sure about that even.

Everyone loves to laugh and the best way to get to know someone is to laugh with them.

God wants to bless us with everything our hearts can hope for and more than our minds can imagine.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey