"What do you do with your mistakes?"

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It was the final exam for an English course. It was two hours long. The professor was very strict and told the class that any exam that was not on his desk in exactly two hours would not be accepted and the student would fail. A half hour into the exam, a student came rushing in and got an exam booklet. After two hours, the professor called for the exams, and the students handed them in, all except the late student.

A half hour later, the last student came up to the professor’s desk to put his exam on the stack of booklets.

“No, you don’t, I’m not going to accept that. It’s late,” the professor said.

“Do you know who I am?” the student said.

“No, as a matter of fact I don’t, and I don't care,” said the professor.

“Good,” said the student, who quickly lifted the stack of completed exams, stuffed his in the middle, and walked out of the room.

Wouldn’t you love it if you could cover all of your mistakes like this student did? Since you can’t, just ask God to forgive you as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living today.

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"What do you do when you’re looking at a mountain of a job?"

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A friend and I were talking. He’s decided to drink a gallon of water every day to improve his health.

“At first that seemed like a lot,” he said. “I’d fill up a gallon pitcher and look at it and think, ‘I can never drink all of that.’”

“So how do you do it?” I asked.

He said, “I poured it into 24 or 32 oz. bottles. I can drink a bottle of water one at a time and pretty soon, the entire gallon is gone.”

I thought about that…a lot. There are some things I do that when I look at them for the first time, I think to myself, “There’s no way I can do that.” But then, I break the huge goal down into smaller tasks; more manageable activities, and pretty soon, like my friend, I’ve done it.

Today, when you’re looking at a mountain of a job, or feeling overwhelmed by too much to do, just take a breath, say a prayer, and ask God to give you the wisdom to break it down into smaller tasks. Then just do them one by one as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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"Do you know how special you are to God?"

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When someone calls you by name, someone whom you didn’t realize knew your name, you feel really special, don’t you? Maybe you feel even a little surprised, thinking to yourself, “He remembered my name!” I guess we all like to be called by name.

Lots of folks say, “I can remember faces, but I can’t remember names.” It’s embarrassing to see someone in public, know you’ve met before, hear them call your name, and you can’t for the life of you remember theirs. “Hey, buddy” or “Hello, dear” become our stock, stumbling responses.

But other people seem to have the knack of remembering people’s names and recalling those names the next time they meet. And when they call us by name, we feel really special, don’t we?

God knows your name because you’re special to God. You can hear God call you by name—and feel really special to God—if you’ll just listen to life today and make a life, not just a living.

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"Do you see miracles?"

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A guide taking some tourists through an old city paused and pointed to an ancient brick wall.

“Here is one of the greatest miracles of all,” he said. “You pray at this spot, and money pours out of the wall. Many pilgrims come here to receive the benefits of its miraculous powers.”

Well, as you can imagine, every single one of those tourists got religion on the spot and wanted to pray. As they crowded closer to the miraculous prayer spot, they saw that the tour guide pointed to an automatic teller machine.

That reminds me of what Albert Einstein once said: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

So how do you live—as though nothing is a miracle? Or, as though everything is a miracle?

As you pray at whatever spot you find yourself in, listen to life and make a life, not just a living. You’ll discover that everything really is a miracle.

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"What's your favorite color?"

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I decided a few weeks ago that my favorite color is green. Why green?

Well, a couple of months ago, the horse pastures on our farm were brown.

The trees in the woods beside the pastures were simply tall sticks. Looking across the farm at the nearby mountains, I discovered that the landscape was gray.

Now that spring is here on the North American continent, the pastures are a beautiful green. The trees in the woods beside the pastures bloomed and leafed out and are now a brilliant green. And looking across the farm at the nearby mountains, the landscape is a bouquet of shades of green.

So green is now my favorite color. To me, it symbolizes a newness of life, when all seemed dead. To me, it brings a freshness to life, when all seemed stale. To me, it offers a refreshing spirit of life, when all seemed oh so boring. The color green speaks God to me, and all that is good about life.

So what’s your favorite color? And why? And what does it say to you about God? Not sure? Then listen to life today and make a colorful life.

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