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Thursday, July 13, 2006

"How's your flow?"


Last winter, I cleaned out the gutters on our home and offices. Not my favorite thing to do, but it’s one of those “necessary” home chores.

Well, I thought that once was enough, that the gutters would be clean until next fall when the leaves fell again. But I discovered that wasn’t the case at all.

One day a heavy rain fell and I noticed from our daughter’s upstairs bedroom that the gutters were backing up and spilling over. But the water looked clear with no leaves, at least the part I could see. I decided something was clogging up the downspout.

So I got up on my ladder and looked at the downspout. And it was definitely clogged. We have lots of maple trees around our home. In the spring they shed lots and lots of seeds and those were what clogged up the downspout.

Do you sometimes think you have something in life cleaned up only to discover later you don’t? And there’s one little something that’s blocking you from doing your best to live in the flow? Ask God to give you a top-down look at how you do life so you can see what’s blocking your flow.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

"How are you?"


What’s your standard greeting when seeing someone for the first time in a while? Do you say, “How are you?” or “How’s it going?” or something like that?

What’s your standard response when someone asks you, “How are you?” or “How’s it going?” or something like that? Do you typically say, “Fine” or “Pretty good” or some other response that you don’t really think about but just say?

I’ve discovered something listening to life—Most people don’t really mean it when they ask, “How are you?” For most of us, it’s simply a greeting, not an interested inquiry. And just as many of us respond “Fine” or “Pretty good” out of habit as well.

So I’ve started asking people, “How are you?” and looking them in the eyes. If they still just respond, “Fine,” I say, “No, really, how are you? I want to know.” Most folks look at me with amazement that someone actually cares.

Try it for yourself. Listen to how you greet people and how they respond. Then let them know you’re seriously interested in them. The same way God is really interested in how you’re doing today.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

"Do you offer others what they prefer?"


This spring I hung a bird feeder in an oak tree just outside one of my office windows. I really like watching cardinals and there are lots of them in my part of the world.

I looked them up on the Internet and discovered the kind of bird feed they prefer—sunflower seeds—and put lots of them in the feeder. Since then, about a dozen different families of cardinals have come to my feeder. Of course, they’re not all there at once, but they do all get to feed there.

The key, I’ve discovered, is offering them what they prefer. I wanted them to come and visit me so I gave them what they wanted.

And that’s pretty much the way life works, isn’t it? When you give, you receive. It’s what I like to call a universal life principle that God weaves into the fabric of our everyday lives. Givers gain.

Try giving, not just so you’ll receive, but because you want to. Try giving at work, in your business, neighborhood, community and especially your family. And watch the beauty of life visit you as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

Monday, July 10, 2006

"Are you rich?"


A friend of mine and I were talking recently about his five-year-old granddaughter. (Well, actually, he was talking and I was listening. After all, I’m just a father and he’s a grandfather so he trumps me.) He picked her up from school that day which happened to be her last day of kindergarten. She cried. Her teacher cried. So “Pops” as she calls him decided to take her out for ice cream and a trip to a traveling zoo and anything else she wanted to do.

She asks him, “Pops, are you rich?”

“No, I’m not rich,” he said.

“Well, did you know that you can be rich and poor?” she said.

And Pops, “No, I didn’t. How does that work?”

“Well,” she said, “You can be rich in love and have no money.”

“Oh yea?” said Pops.

And she said, “Yes, you don’t have to have money to be rich. You can be rich in love.”

You can learn so much about listening to life from a five-year-old, can’t you? Be rich in love today as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

"What's easy for you?"


Recently I pulled a new, unopened pack of turkey out of the refrigerator. It was a brand I wasn’t familiar with, but I mean how hard could it be to open a container of turkey, right? Well, I searched around a bit, found the place to open the lid and got it off. Next, the turkey was vacuum-sealed inside. So I picked up the package, and noticed on one corner a label that read, “Easy Open Here.”

“Piece of cake,” I thought, and began pulling on the “Easy Open Here” corner. And I pulled…and pulled, folded and tried to separate the seal, and nothing worked. Finally I just gave up, found the scissors, and cut it open.

You know, what’s “Easy Open Here” for one person, isn’t so easy for another. You are unique among over 6 billion people here so what works easily for you might not be easy for someone else.

Avoid assuming just because something is easy for you that it’ll be easy for someone else. Instead work to make life easy for others, asking them what that looks like, as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living today.