"Don’t you just love meetings?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

A study by researchers at 3M shows that most employees wish meetings would just go away. They estimate that managers spend a day to a day-and-a-half each week in meetings. And they say most are wasted time.

So some major companies have declared no-meeting days, most on Fridays. And some have standing
meetings where participants literally stand and, according to research, as much gets done in fifteen minutes as is done in a two-hour sit-down meeting. At other companies, so much background work is done by email prior to the meeting that most matters are disposed of quickly.

The no-meeting day has been such a success that some folks are suggesting a no-email, no-memo, or a no-phone day.

But there’s one meeting you don’t want to miss, your daily meeting with God. In fact, with all this time you’re saving not going to other meetings, spend more time meeting with God. You see, it’s in meetings with God that you listen to life today for what God has to say.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"How can you make a difference in the world?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

Mother Theresa gave a speech about her work with the sick and dying and her efforts to help the orphans in India. After her address, a member of the audience stood and asked, "You have done so much to make the world a better place. What can we do?" He really wanted to assist her in her work.

Mother Theresa just smiled and said simply, "Love your children."

The man looked puzzled and was about to say something else when Mother Theresa raised her hand and said, "There are other things you can do, but this is the best—love your children."

When you think about making a difference in the world, you think of things like Mother Theresa did that grab headlines. "Love your children" sounds rather mundane by comparison…until you realize that if the parents of the orphans with whom Mother Theresa worked had loved their children, her orphanage work would have been unnecessary.

So let’s just love our children…or somebody else’s child that needs loving, and make a difference in the world today.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"Do you ever want to just rush through your life?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

Recently I was admiring my rose bushes. A few days later, I noticed that almost all of the blooms had faded and that even though there were plenty of buds, there just weren’t any open flowers.

I thought, "I wish these rose buds would hurry up and open. Or, at least part of them. I wish there was something I could to do to speed them up."

Then it occurred to me that there is no way to unfold a rose bud without destroying it. Sure, I can water it regularly and feed it often, but I simply can’t unfold a rose bud with my hands without destroying it. The rose bush won’t be rushed without being damaged.

You know, life’s that way, too. As much as you’d like to rush your life at times—through tough times, or your teenaged years, or your crises—you just can’t rush your life without damaging yourself.

But you can ask God to nurture your life with blessings until it’s your turn to bloom. Just ask God for miracle growth in your life, not rushing, as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"Do you ever get frustrated?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

I was working on a Listen to Life project, and things weren’t going exactly right. They were moving much slower than I wanted and I was getting a little frustrated.

Just then a phone call came for me. My first thought was, "Oh great! Now I’m never going to get done." But I answered the call anyway and boy am I glad I did.

You see, it was Adelle. Now I didn’t know Adelle, and still haven’t met her in person. But Adelle had gone to the trouble of tracking down my phone number and calling me because she wanted me to know how much Listen to Life means to her. She reads it in her local paper and it blesses her.

Adelle is wheelchair bound. She told me, "I can’t get out like everybody else, but I can read your column and call people and read it to them and let them know how much God loves them."

As I said "Good-bye" to Adelle, my frustration with my project was gone, and I remembered why I do what I do.

When you’re frustrated today, remember why you do what you do.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"What ranks highest with you?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

After Pearl Harbor, General Theodore Roosevelt was flying on a plane and seats were hard to come by. At a stop, priority was served on a very young sailor, but he wouldn’t get off the plane. "I want to see my mother," he said.

"Sorry son," the ticket agent said, "There’s a war on, you know."

Having heard all of this, General Roosevelt stepped up to the counter and said, "Give him my seat. I’ll take a later plane."

A friend of Roosevelt’s walked up, having heard him give up his seat, and said, "Teddy, nobody is going to believe this when I tell it. Aren’t you in a hurry, too?"

And General Roosevelt said, "It’s a matter of rank. I’m only a general. He’s a son."

I guess respecting someone else’s rank depends on who’s doing the ranking, doesn’t it? Some ranks are just more important than others and not necessarily the ones we think of. Family ranked higher with Roosevelt.

Decide what ranks highest with you as you make a life, not just a living.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!