"Do you live backwards?"

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Now, I know that’s a strange question, Do you live backwards? So, what am I talking about? I’m talking not so much about driving through your life looking in the rearview mirror. That’s a sure-fire way to wreck your life.

What I’m talking about is in your mind, going to your own funeral and imaging what your family and friends say about you in the memorial service and around your grave. Most likely your family will leave your grave and go have potato salad for lunch.

But will they just eat potato salad? Or, will they love each other and other people who gather for your service as they remember you and pass on the love you shared?

So, how do you live backwards? Start living today with the realization that what you do and say today determines what goes with the potato salad after your funeral. That’s living backwards, with your ending here in mind.

And the best way I’ve found to live backwards is to focus on making a life, not just a living as you listen to life today for what God has to say.

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"Do you want to be a superhero?"

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When I was a kid, I wanted to be a superhero. I pretended that I had X-ray vision and could see through walls to watch the "bad guys" robbing a bank. And I could leap tall buildings in a single bound.

When I got tired of being Superman, then I imagined that I had a spider-like agility, that I had sixth sense and could tell where danger lurked around the corner, and I could climb up walls and stick to them.

Well, when I got tired of being Spiderman, then I pretended that I had this superhuman, freakish strength, that I had the temper of an enraged rhino, a brain the size of a walnut, and was green all over.

But then I even tired of being the Incredible Hulk. So I grew up and decided that it was okay that I wasn’t Superman or Spiderman or the Incredible Hulk. That it was just fine to be who I am—a child of God.

Today, when you’re tempted to be someone other than who you are, take off your cape or cowl and wipe off the green body paint, and just be the wonderful you God created. And make a life, not just a living.

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"Do you eat dessert first?"

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I recently did a speaking engagement with a group about, "How to Be Positive in a Negative World." A luncheon preceded my presentation.

I enjoyed the conversation around the table while the servers came around to the various tables. I didn’t really notice what the servers were doing…

…until one arrived at our table. She placed in front of me a lovely slice of strawberry swirl cheesecake. Now understand that there was no soup or salad in front of me. And she had not placed an entrée down. The first item she put on my placemat was a slice of cheesecake.

Well, I love cheesecake. So I looked at the cheesecake and said to myself, "Why not?," picked up my dessert fork, and began eating my cheesecake.

The conversation grew quiet around our table and I realized they were staring at me. So between bites, I said, "Life is short. Eat dessert first." And pretty soon I wasn’t the only one eating cheesecake first.

Enjoy the life God gives you, every moment of it, as you make a life, not just a living.

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"Ever wonder where you’re going?"

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Our younger daughter runs cross country for her high school this time of year. Now when she runs track in the spring, she knows what the course is like each time—she runs left turns on a 400-meter oval. But in cross country, each course is different.

One course may be wide open and you can see it in its entirety. Another course may be mostly in the woods with twists and turns around ponds and big trees with roots sticking up. She just never knows.

I usually run from place to place on the course to encourage her along the way. I noticed at one particular point during the race that most of the runners were coming off of one portion of the course unsure where to go next. There were arrows spray painted on the ground, but they were so far apart, the girls weren’t sure which way to run. I pointed the girls down the hill to the next point.

That’s my life sometimes. Is it yours, too? I’m running the race of life and unsure of where to go. Ask God for directions when you’re unsure about where to go and when and what to do as you make a life. God gives great directions!

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"Do you bounce back?"

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The Chicago Bears and the New York Giants played football one Monday night some years ago. One announcer observed that Walter Payton had carried the football over nine miles in his career. And the other announcer said, "Yeah, and that’s with someone knocking him down every 4.6 yards!"

Sounds like life to me. What do you think? Every single one of us, even the best among us like a Walter Payton, gets knocked down by something or someone in life. The key to success in life is to get up and run again just as strongly as we did last time.

So what do you do when life knocks you down? Do you just lie there, unable to believe you got knocked down? Well, if you’re going to do anything at all with your life, you’re gonna have to get over being knocked down. We all do.

Do you bounce back up? Are you ready to run hard again?

So many of the things in life that knock us down just happen. They’re beyond our control. So don’t take it personally. Just get up and run hard again. And as you do, listen to life today and make a life, not just a living.

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