"What's important to you?"

Some things in life are just more important than some other things, aren’t they?

A man and his buddy were enjoying deer season in rural Alabama near a highway. A huge, 12-point, 225 lb. buck walked by and the hunter raised his gun and carefully aimed it.

Just then, his friend waved at him and pointed out that a funeral procession was passing on the road. The hunter slowly lowered his gun, took off his hat, bowed his head, and closed his eyes in prayer.

His friend was amazed. “Wow! That is the most thoughtful and touching thing I have ever seen. You passed up that big buck for a funeral procession. You’re the kindest man I’ve ever known.”

The hunter just shrugged and said, “Yeah, well, we were married for 25 years.”

So what’s important to you? Choose very carefully as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living today.

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"Do you misunderstand?"

Last month, my 4 year old nephew and his dad (my brother) were talking about his role in the Christmas play at school. They were discussing his costume and what he’d do in the play; those kind of things.

“What character are you playing?” my brother asked.

My nephew said, “I’m a shepherd.”

“Oh,” my brother said, “Do you know what a shepherd does?”

“I guess he herds sheps,” my nephew said.

And my brother, without laughing, said, “That’s sheep, son. He herds sheep.”

“Oh good,” my nephew said. “That makes sense now. I didn’t even know what a shep was, Daddy. I didn’t know how I was going to herd it.”

Do you ever get assigned a role at work or home and wonder how you’re going to do it? And you’re not even sure what it means?

Life’s like that sometimes. Next time you’re asked to do something you’re not sure about, ask your Heavenly Daddy to send you some help as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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"Are you in a battle?"

October, November, and December of last year were really challenging for my wife and our family. She had four different medical procedures during those months to discover if she had cancer. Three of the four she had some form of anesthesia.

Have you ever been through something like this with someone you love? Or, yourself? It’s a real struggle to deal with the reality of the situation—you may have cancer—and still choose to believe that regardless, everything will be fine. Your mind plays tricks on you, suggesting possible scenarios, each one worse than the previous. You exhaust yourself battling these mind-games until finally, we just had to say: “God, this is in your hands. We can’t control whether or not she has cancer so we just put her in your care, asking you to be with us.”

When we put the situation in God’s hands, people started coming to us, offering to help; people who had had cancer and survived encouraged us. My wife doesn’t have cancer and we’re grateful. And we’re also thankful for new friends who brought us God’s tender-loving care.

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"What do you see?"

A friend recently told me a story about listening to life with his grandson. They sat together, eating M&Ms. After a handful or so, the little guy started staring at one of the candies.

“What do you see?” the grandfather asked.

“Well, I see an M,” the boy said. He turned the candy slowly around about a quarter of a turn.

“Now I see a 3,” he said, and turned the candy again.

“And there’s a W,” he said, turning the candy.

“And look! There’s an E,” he told his grandfather. “And that’s all,” he said, and popped the candy in his mouth.

Amazing, isn’t it, what you can see when you just change your perspective a little bit. As little as a quarter turn in your viewpoint can open up a whole new world for you, can’t it?

Whatever you’re looking at in your life, turn it towards God and see it from God’s perspective. A whole new way of listening to life and making a life, not just a living is waiting for you when you do!

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"What does your work seem like?"

I was talking with our daughter recently who’s in her first year of college. She was telling me all about everything—her new friends, the school’s traditions, her role in the play—except her classes. So since I’m her Daddy and it’s my job to ask, I said, “Well tell me how your school work is going?”

And she said, “Daddy, the thing is, I’m enjoying my classes so much and love what I’m doing in them, that they don’t seem like work!”

You’ve got to love that attitude! When you love what you’re doing, it doesn’t seem like work! She reminds me of that saying: “Do you what love and love what you do and you’ll never work another day in your life.”

Now contrast her attitude with that of the average American worker. Every survey I’ve ever read finds that well over half of all American workers are dissatisfied with their jobs, i.e., they’re not doing what they love.

Life is way too short to be miserable about your work. Discover what God created you to do—the work you’ll love—by listening to your life and making a life, not just a living.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey