"How's your driving?"

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Our younger daughter is 16 years old now which means she’s driving without my wife or me in the vehicle. (Our prayer life has increased dramatically.) Recently a thunderstorm rolled through our area while we knew our daughter was driving home…or so we thought.

It turns out that she and a friend were returning from visiting with some other friends when a severe downpour started. They turned the windshield wipers on high, but still they couldn’t see very well at all.

So they decided to pull into a parking lot and wait for the rain to subside. They could have continued driving, but they didn’t because they realized that their lack of vision and experience in this type of storm were both limited.

Wise move, wouldn’t you say?

You encounter storms in your life’s journey, don’t you? What do you do? Do you just keep on driving your life when you can’t see? Or, do you pull over and pray, asking God to show you the light in the darkness, and the calm in the storm? Pull over during the storm and listen to your life today and make a life.

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"Are you getting through?"

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Recently my email malfunctioned. Only I didn’t know it.

You see, everything looked fine on my computer. I received email from others great. I get lots of email daily including documents from coaching clients who are working on their assignments for our next time together. And I replied to each of them in turn, responding to specific questions, and answering requests.

But then a couple whom I’m coaching to Stay Married Forever wrote asking about their Conflict Management Inventory results when I knew I had sent them. A business coaching client wrote to repeat a question I had responded to earlier. And a Life Coaching client emailed about rescheduling despite the fact that I had replied with a new date.

What I discovered was that while everything appeared fine—my replies were in my "sent" box—my email just wasn’t going out.

Today, you’ll try to communicate with someone and your message just won’t get through. You’ll understand what you’re saying, but that person won’t. Say it in a way that makes sense to the other person and you’ll make a life today.

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"Who's wilting around you?"

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I was out of my office for a week or so last month. When I came back, I looked around to make sure everything was okay. I noticed that one of my house plants was wilting. Its leaves were all drooping downward, some of them touching the desk.

Now I had a choice right here. I could have said, "Oh, the leaves are drooping. The plant must need watering" and done nothing about it. Just observed and mentally made a note that it happened. Or, I could have said, "Oh, the leaves are drooping. The plant must need watering," filled my watering can, and watered that plant and the rest of them as well.

I chose to water the wilted plant. And within thirty minutes or so, the plant was fully upright. Not watering it could have meant the plant died.

Today you’ll mentally make lots of notes about life as it happens around you. What you do with those notes, whether or not you act on them is up to you. Your actions could be the difference between life and death for those around you. So do something today as you listen to life and make a life.

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"What's your choice?"

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I recently took some time off from my usual pursuits to create my wife’s birthday present. I asked her what she wanted and she said, "For you to paint the kitchen." So that’s what I did during my vacation—I painted the kitchen.

Maybe you’re thinking, "That’s not much of a vacation," but for me it is. I enjoy painting. But painting the kitchen turned out to be quite a challenge.

Our kitchen has six windows and five doors. It also has three large shelves with decorative trim and lots of molding. I thought I’d just paint the kitchen in a day or two, then move on, but painting the kitchen took lots more time than I thought.

So I had a choice—grow impatient, make a mess, and go outdoors. Or, relax and enjoy, do a great job painting, and focus on making my wife a Happy Birthday. I chose to relax and eventually I got outdoors. And it took me about the same amount of time painting as if I grew impatient.

Today you’ll face a similar choice—grow impatient because things aren’t going like you hoped or relax and enjoy. To really make a life, relax and enjoy and have a Happy Day!

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"What's in your yard?"

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The spring showers have come in the part of the world where I live which means that the grass is turning green…you know, that beautiful shade of spring green that tells you winter is over…and the weeds are coming.

I stood looking out on our beautiful green yard recently, and seeing all of those little yellow flowers mixed in with the grass—dandelions. I stood there trying to decide whether or not to put some "weed and feed" on the yard; you know, that stuff that kills the dandelions and feeds the grass. I wanted the dandelions killed, but feeding the grass would mean I’d have to mow it more often, taking up more of my time.

Well, as I stood there, trying to decide, our younger daughter walked up, put her arm around me and said, "Aren’t the yellow flowers beautiful, Daddy? Let’s pick some."

I saw weeds. She saw flowers. Of course, I decided not to weed and feed, but to spend my time picking yellow flowers with her.

See the flowers, not the weeds as you listen to life and make a life today.

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