"Do you run?"

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Among the 40 or so family members I enjoyed time with at the beach recently were some babies. Now hopefully my wife and I are not eligible for birthing babies because that’s best done by younger people with more energy and less understanding of why some species eat their young. But seriously, I love babies, enjoyed being one myself, and our two daughters when they were younger.

So I took advantage of being around these babies at the beach, glad to play with them and return them to their parents with dirty diapers. One little guy seemed particularly happy just to run. He ran back and forth, back and forth with this huge, face-splitting smile, squealing as if he was the one who discovered running in the first place, and wondering why no one else was.

I decided the little guy knows a lot about listening to life. Rather than getting all excited because the iPhone is out now and you don’t have to camp out to get one, be like this baby and try running a little this weekend. God created you to be amazed by the little things as you make a life, not just a living.

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"What decisions will you make today?"

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The Jones family was visiting in the home of the Smiths. Over dinner, the oldest Smith son asked his parents for some book money, saying that the 11th grade teacher said it was a very important book and the school didn’t have the money to buy it so each student would have to buy their own. Mr. Smith sheepishly told his son that they didn’t have the money right then and that he might have to quit school and work on the farm so his younger siblings could go to school.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones were troubled by the conversation. They went home that evening, then returned to the Smith household, giving the boy his book money and telling the family not to worry about repaying it. Well, not only did the Smith family repay it financially, but in other ways, too. You see, starting with that boy’s generation, three consecutive generations graduated from high school with many of them going on to receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones’ decision effected generations to come. What decisions will you make today?

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"How does your day start?"

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What’s it like for you waking up in the mornings?

Are you relaxed with plenty of time, getting yourself ready to have a great day?

Or, do you rush around because you woke up late because you just had to have 15 more minutes of sleep and now you don’t have time to fix your hair the way you wanted or iron your pants or hardly anything else but rush out the door?

In the first scenario, you made the decision that you could finish the movie the next night or read on-line about how the game ended and go to bed on-time so you would get enough rest.

In the second situation, you stayed up and finished the movie or chose to see how the game ended which means you went to bed late which further means you didn’t get enough rest and that made you sleep late.

God created your body to cycle between activity and rest with balance between the two. You can’t cheat one without affecting everything. So today make a life, not just a living by resting the way God created you to.

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"Do you stop and remember?"

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A friend told me recently about talking with another friend who was traveling. It seems that the other friend was in an airport, waiting to board a plane, and returning phone calls.

Well, as these two friends talk, all of a sudden, really loud music starts blaring over the intercom system.
"Hold on," the guy in the airport screams, "we’ll have to wait."

So my friend holds on. He can’t help but hear the music and soon recognizes it as the U.S. national anthem.

When the song finishes playing, the friend in the airport resumes the conversation, and says, "Sorry about that. Every day at 12noon they play that so we’ll stop and remember how blessed we are by freedom."

When was the last time you stopped and remembered how blessed you are? If you live in a free country, by freedom? Or, if you have good health, by that? Or, if you have love in your home, by family? And the list of blessings from God continues. So make a life today and stop and remember your blessings.

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"How fast does time fly for you?"

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My Grandfather used to tell me, "Son, I don’t understand it, but the older you get, the faster time flies."

Frankly I thought he was just an old man musing about life. I was younger, bullet-proof, sure that I could do whatever I wanted. When I was a kid, I thought it took forever for my birthday to arrive. Then finally I was a teenager. Then finally I could drive. Then finally I was 21.

But now that I’m a little older and hopefully a little wiser, I’m beginning to understand what he meant. Life has a way of accelerating as you get older. The days seem shorter and I wonder, "Where did the week go?" and "Is it time for my daughter to go back to college already? And how did she get to be a senior?" Then one morning you wake up and recall all of those times you said, "I’m going to…" and "I plan on…" and you’ll do it all "When things settle down a bit."

I’m not really sure that day ever arrives. So today, do something you’ve been talking about for way too long. Just do it. Go for it with God’s help. You see, that’s one of the ways you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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