"Do you persist?"

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My wife and I have a morning routine. She takes one of our yellow Labs, Princess, out in the morning. I’m inside having my morning quiet time, starting my day by listening to life. Well, when Princess finishes outside, my wife lets her back inside, and I’m supposed to feed her.

One morning recently I was so focused on listening to God that I didn’t realize when Princess came back inside. So I just sat in my chair, praying and meditating. Now I don’t know whether it was 30 seconds or 30 minutes later, I became aware that I was being stared at. You know, that feeling that you’re being watched? So I opened my eyes slowly, and there sat Princess at attention, tail wagging, her deep brown eyes staring at me, waiting persistently to be fed.

I got up and fixed her food and as I did, I thought how sometimes I don’t wait as well as Princess did, persisting long enough to get what I’m after.

Do you? Do you persist until you’re fed? Don’t give up today. Keep after whatever goal God puts in front of you no matter how long the odds. Persist as evidence of your faith that God is with you as you make a life.

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"What do you pray for?"

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Lewis went with Bill to pick up a truck Bill had recently bought. Lewis drove behind Bill, just in case something went wrong. And it did. Bill’s newly purchased truck ran out of gas.

So Lewis pulled over behind Bill, got out, and found out from Bill what was wrong. Lewis tells Bill, "Well, I don’t have a gas can. I guess we’ll just have to pray for a gas can." So they did.

And about that time, a friend of Lewis’ sees him on the roadside, and pulls over to see if he can help. Lewis asks him, "Do you have a gas can?"

And his friend says, "Well, yes, and I’ll go you one better—I’ve got a gas can with gas in it!"

Lewis laughs and tells Bill, "We were praying for the wrong thing. We were praying for a gas can when we should have been praying for gas!"

It’s so easy to ask God for what you think you need. But what you think you need isn’t always what you really need. So today, ask God to give you whatever God chooses to share with you as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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"Got junk?"

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Our website, www.listentolife.org, has visitors from about 50 countries around the world every month. That means I get tons of email. All of this email from our website also means that I get a very large volume of junk email. You know the kind. Email advising me on which stocks to buy and asking for my bank account number because I’ve won the lottery and suggesting improvements I could make to my love life. It’s all junk email and not worth the time to delete it.

Junk arrives in other forms as well. Junk thoughts try to get in your mind when you’re talking with coworkers around the coffee pot and someone says, "Did you hear about…" and spreads gossip. Junk thoughts assault your brain when you choose to listen to a constant barrage of negative news 24/7. Junk thoughts knock on the door of your attitude when you choose to see your glass as chronically half-empty.

Ask God to give you a mental junk filter, the wisdom to know what to hear and let in your mind and what to delete as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living today.

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"What do you do for fun?"

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Our family used to go to the beach every spring break when our daughters were much younger. It had been several months so we enjoyed getting back to the ocean.

Our younger daughter was about three years old one spring and seemed particularly happy to get her bathing suit on and down to the water. When she got on the beach, she paused and looked up at the surf, squealed, and started running in circles. I videotaped her running in circles, and added my own narration, saying, "Sometimes you’re so happy you just have to run in circles." She’s in high school and still running. Recently, at her state’s indoor track meet, she ran on one relay team that finished second and another that finished third. As she came off the track, we remarked, "Sometimes you’re so happy you just have to run in circles."

What do you do to express how happy you are? What is your "running in circles?" God wants you to enjoy life, wants you to be happy. So get ready to run today or whatever it is you do as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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"How do you act?"

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All of us have certain things or people that we really love. You have some activities that you absolutely love to do. You are passionate about particular aspects of life much more so than others.

Well, let me ask you: how much do you act on these desires?

I coach a lot of people about aligning what they say they love to do with what they actually do. It’s one thing to say, "I love my family" but if you’re rarely with them because you’re working all the time, you have to wonder how much you really love them. Or, if you love kayaking, and you dream of owning a business up in the mountains that teaches people to kayak and takes them down rivers, and you have a kayak but it hasn’t been in the water in the last six months, do you really love kayaking? Or, do you just love the idea of kayaking?

Desire without action is just a dream. Every one of us has a desire born into us. Unfortunately, many of us die without ever realizing that desire.

As you listen to life today, listen for ways God leads you to act on your desire so that you can make a life, not just a living.

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