"Do you divide life?"

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A parent told me a story recently about their daughter and dinner. It seems that one of their table rules is that if you want to have dessert, you first have to eat all of the food on your plate. Sounds reasonable, right?

Well, their daughter who’s about five, had not eaten all of the food on her plate. She put down her fork anyway, stuck out her stomach, patted it, and said, "Oh me, I’m full."

Her mother then said, "Oh, well if you’re full, and you haven’t cleaned your plate, I guess you don’t want any dessert." She was trying to avoid going to war over dessert again.

The little girl just kept patting her stomach, and said, "Yes, I do want dessert."

And the mother said, "Oh, but you’re full, remember?"

"Well," the daughter, "the dinner side of my stomach is full, but the dessert side is empty."

Do you divide life like this little girl does? Into the sweet situations you think you can handle and the rest for God? This time of year can get pretty stressful so let God have all of you as you listen to life and make a life.

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"Are you laughing?"

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A friend of mine is a new grandmother. She calls her daughter one day, who said, "Mama, we had a little accident today." It seems the little guy is teething which sounds innocent enough, but carries with it a whole host of unexpected symptoms, especially if you’re a first-time mom, which this one is.

Well, the accident happened when the little boy had just finished his lunch and was sitting in his high chair playing. His mom walked out of the room for a few minutes. She returned to discover that he had soiled his diapers and it had run down his legs. Well, the little fellow thought this was just fine—something new to play with. So he smeared it in his hair, on his face, in his ears, and all over the high chair. His mother was aghast at the whole experience…

…but the grandmother laughed so hard she could hardly breathe! Then she asked, "Did you get a video of it? You could make $10,000 off of it!"

Experience is a great teacher, isn’t it? The grandmother had "been there, done that" and could laugh. The mother had not. Remember—what doesn’t kill you builds character so laugh as you make a life, not just a living today.

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"What do you do well?"

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I was speaking to a group of CEOs about how to survive stress and thrive with success. The first key of these three "R’s" is to "Relax into who you are." I asked the participants, "What’s one thing that you do well? Remember—you’re not bragging, you’re just saying, ‘Here’s something I do well.’"

Now frankly what I typically get when I ask this question are responses like "I’m a good leader" or "I manage people well" or something like that. But this group got quiet. Then one of the executives said, "I’m a really good husband and father." And another said, "I’m a single mom which is stressful, but my daughter and I are really close." Then someone else said, "My parents are elderly. I’m a really good son to them." And the responses continued around the room with most everyone commenting on some personal aspect of life that they do well.

I thought that was pretty cool. I mean, here I am speaking to a group of highly successful, overachieving CEOs, and when asked about what they do well, they talk about how they make a life, not how they make a living.

What would you say you do well? Think about it as you listen to life today.

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"Do you just dance sometimes?"

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Our family recently watched some home movies. Our daughters were much younger then and they really enjoy seeing themselves then.

I walked into the room just when our younger daughter, who was about 18 months old at the time, came on camera. Our family was at an amusement park and we had gone to one of those outdoor music shows. The entertainers called all the kids up on stage, and there she was—front and center—moving not just her feet, but her whole body; jumping up and down, running around, with this huge grin on her face!

Now what you need to understand is that she rarely did anything like this. She’s our quiet, introverted child who speaks only when spoken to. But there she is, dancing like she’s starring in A Chorus Line, enjoying every second of it.

Well, after several minutes of filming this, I said, "Sometimes you just have to dance!" And you do…sometimes life is so good, you just have to dance.

Listen to life and dance as you make a life, not just a living today. And know that God’s dancing with you.

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"Are you listening?"

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I have an old AM radio in my office. My parents gave it to me. It’s the AM radio I listened to every morning as I ate my Frosted Flakes before school. It’s the radio that Jimmy Francis came on every morning and played my favorite music, and Charles Westbrook gave me the morning news. It’s the radio that I sat praying in front of on those rare winter mornings when the forecast called for snow and on spring Saturdays when I wanted to go fishing.

And you know what? That little radio still works. Sure, I have to wait for it to warm up, but the reception is good and the sound full and rich. Yes, I know technology has gone way beyond AM radio; even beyond FM radio to satellite radio and iTunes and now iVideo. But there’s more to this old radio than just technology. It reminds me of a simpler time in my life, a time when baseball was my first love and Elvis was alive and I worked on my own bike and faith in God brought amazing grace.

Listen to life today and remember what it’s like to make a life.

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