"Are you overwhelmed?"

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I had more to do than I could reasonably do recently. I was simply overwhelmed. I felt myself getting more and more anxious about how I was going to get everything done.

So I prayed. I knew my wisdom wasn’t working and that I could use some help. So I prayed.

And as I prayed, I thought about all of the great people God brings me in touch with each day. Some of their faces and names came to mind.

Then I realized a significant life principle—I don’t have to do it all. I don’t even have to try to do it all. God sends me gifted people to help.

So I picked up the phone and called one of these friends. I told him about the situation and he said, "Sure, I’d be glad to help out. Just let me know when."

Then I called another friend. "Of course, I’d love to," she said.

I remembered another friend’s previous offer to help, called, and she said, "Just tell me when to be there."

When you get overwhelmed today, avoid getting anxious by praying. Ask God to show you how to get the help you need. Then phone a friend.

That’s one way you listen to life and make a life, not just a living today.

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"What are you looking for?"

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The part of the world where I live has been in a drought for over a year. Water rationing is enforced in several major cities. Farmers have had trouble feeding their livestock. It’s been pretty serious.

So I was happy when it started raining last month. In fact, it rained some each day for about eight or nine days in a row.

Well, as I talked with people I noticed that many of them complained about the weather. "I’m so tired of these gray days," one said. "Is the sun ever going to shine again?" another asked. "I’m feeling blue. Must be the weather," someone said.

Now I can understand those sentiments. But here’s what I saw:

--my horse pastures turning greener and greener

--a new rose bush I planted last month sprouting more and more leaves

--my blueberry bushes flowering.

I guess you see what you’re looking for, don’t you? Gray skies or green growth? Look for God’s green growth today as you listen to life and make a life.

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"Do you complain or marvel?"

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Some friends came over for dinner recently. I saw their vehicle enter our driveway down the hill and told my wife they were on their way up. Some time passed by and my wife said, "I thought you said they were coming up."

"I thought they were," I said, and looked out the bay window, down the driveway to discover them stopped. Eventually they came on up the driveway and into our home. Their two-year-old grandson walked in the backdoor and said, "Deer. Deer."

His grandfather said, "We just had to stop and look at that herd of deer. There must have been about 10 or 15 of them."

"Yea, and they love running through my fence posts and tearing up the boards," I said and started complaining about the deer.

"Well, they looked really beautiful to us," my friend said.

And I realized that I saw the deer as nuisance. He saw them as beautiful.

Do you complain or marvel at the beauty in the world around you? Listen to your life for the beautiful and enjoy the wonderful gifts God gives you today.

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"Changed your perspective lately?"

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Well, believe it or not, I finally finished painting the kitchen in our home. I passed my wife’s inspection, sang "Happy Birthday" to her since it was her present, and got out of the way so she could redecorate the room the way she wanted.

Sometime later, I returned to the kitchen after she had been busy putting up her baskets and glassware and whatever you call all of that other "stuff" that you use to decorate your kitchen. The colors I painted with are really different from the previous colors so the whole room looks different. I walked around admiring the room. Then I started asking my wife, "Where did this come from?"

"Oh," she said, "that was in here before, just on that other wall."

"Okay," I said. "And where did we get this?" as I pointed at a knick-knack.

"We’ve had that," she replied. "Don’t you remember? It was a wedding gift. It’s just on a different shelf now."

Everything looked different to me because it was in a different place.

Bored with your life? Change your perspective by asking God to move some things around for you as you listen to life.

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"Why do you do what you do?"

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My wife and I moved furniture out of our kitchen recently so that I could paint. We left the large, round oak table in the center of the breakfast nook, but the rest of the stuff—like the telephone table—had to go so that I could paint. So we moved some of it into the family room and the rest of it into the dining room.

Now I knew where this furniture went because I helped move it. But every time the phone rang, I got up and headed to the telephone table in the kitchen. But it wasn’t there. I would need to look up a friend’s phone number. Immediately I got up and went to the telephone table in the kitchen, expecting to open the drawer and pick up the phone book. Every time I wanted to write a note, I’d walk over to get the pad and pen on the telephone table in the kitchen. But it wasn’t there.

Now why did I do that? The same reason you do what you do—we’re creatures of habit. You get into a pattern or routine that you follow without thinking.

Today think about why you do what you do as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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