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Thursday, March 15, 2007

"What do you see?"


My sister-in-law was getting ready for work one morning. My niece walks into the bathroom wearing a pair of funny pink flamingo sunglasses.

She walks in so excited saying, "Mom! Mom! Look at everything! It looks different! Come on Mom! Come out here! Look over there!" She takes her Mom out of the bathroom and into the den. She thinks her Mom sees everything differently as well.

So her Mom patiently tells her that she’s not wearing pink flamingo sunglasses and so she can’t see everything differently. So the three-year-old takes off the sunglasses, hands them to her Mom, and says, "What about now?"

And my sister-in-law says, "Things do look a little differently through pink flamingo sunglasses."

How often do you assume everyone else sees life the way you do? Pretty often? It’s natural for you regardless of age to assume everyone sees life the way you do. Today, when you’re talking to your spouse or child or coworker or friend about what you see, remember God made them unique. So help them see what you see by listening to life and making a life, not just a living today.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

"Does God heal you?"


My mother’s family has a history of chronic heart disease with numerous family members dying relatively young. So when she began experiencing some apparent heart problems, her doctor recommended a heart catheterization.

The symptoms grew some worse before the procedure, so our family had a little anxiety going into it. The doctor performed the procedure flawlessly. And he reported to us that my mom had no sign of blockage and hardly any sign of plaque build-up in her arteries. We were all so glad!

I took my mom and dad home when the hospital released her. That evening as we sat eating supper, she looked at me and said, "Do you think God healed me?"

Frankly I really hadn’t thought about it that way. Considering her family history for a moment, I said, "Well, I can’t say for sure whether God healed you today or has been healing you all your life, but I would say for sure, yes, God healed you."

How has God healed you? Think about it as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living today.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

"Are you careful what you ask for?"


The temperatures got down in the single digits in the part of the world where I live. And we were treated to some snow and ice. Being the kind, generous person I am, I offered to ship some to a friend in Florida where it was 60+ degrees that day.

He emailed me back, saying that his dad was a builder in Connecticut. One of his clients lived on a sound, and had a rather large sailboat. A captain would pilot the boat to Florida every winter and bring it back up in the spring. He always complained that he never got to see any snow because he was always down South.

So one winter, the sailboat’s owner made up a bunch of snowballs from the Connecticut snow and froze them. As the sailboat captain docked the following spring, he was greeted by those snowballs, which were probably more like iceballs by then. The captain never complained about missing snow again.

As you listen to life and make a life, not just a living today, be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it…especially from God.

Monday, March 12, 2007

"Got pain?"


Tony Dungy, head coach for the Indianapolis Colts, told a group about his son. Jordan has no sense of pain.

Now when you first hear that, you might think, "Wow! I wish I didn’t feel pain," but think about it a little more and you’ll discover that it’s not such a great thing after all.

Dungy says that if Jordan doesn’t want to wait for the cookies to finish baking in the oven, he just opens the door, reaches in with his bare hand, grabs the pan, puts it on top of the stove, picks up a cookie off the pan and shoves it in his mouth. Obviously, the boy burns the hand he grabs the pan with, burns the fingers he picks up the cookie with, and then burns his mouth as he shoves the cookie in.

Dungy thinks of pain as God’s way of protecting you, of loving you enough to help you receive pain that keeps you from hurting yourself further.

What pain do you have in your life? Reflect on how that pain can keep you from injuring yourself or others as you listen to life and make a life today.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

"Who do you choose to be with?"


Once upon a time, I had an exercise bike. I rode it for a while, but pretty soon I threw a pair of jeans on it, then a shirt, then some clothes waiting to be ironed, and it became an expensive clothes rack. So one day I moved it to the storage room.

Then I got a ski machine. It was great, after I became coordinated enough to swing my arms and legs simultaneously. And I used it for a while, but then one day I threw a pair of jeans on it, then a shirt, then some clothes waiting to be ironed, and it became a super-expensive clothes rack. So I moved it to the basement.

Then I wanted a treadmill. And I remembered the bike and ski machine. Instead I bought a membership at a gym. And I go exercise there three times a week, missing only when I’m sick. What’s the difference? At home, I exercise alone. At the gym, I’m with lots of people, all of them doing the same thing. I discovered I’m encouraged by people doing what I’m doing.

Surround yourself with God and people who listen to life and make a life.