"What are you afraid of?"

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One of the things I remember from trick-or-treating as a child at Halloween is that my younger brother was scared to death of ghosts. Or, actually other kids dressed as ghosts.

He and I would walk from one neighbor’s house to another and all of a sudden, he would scream and start crying. I would look around and there was a kid dressed as a ghost. I would hug him until "the ghost" walked on by.

He was afraid of ghosts not because they were ghosts but because they were dressed in all white. You see he had surgery a couple of times when he was a baby and later as a preschooler. All of the OR people wore white as did the other nurses and doctors. He associated their white dress and the white sheets of "the ghosts" with pain.

You know, we’ve had a lot of pain in the world this year—war, hurricanes, financial failures. It’s easy for you to associate that pain with every dark shadow in life and be frightened of lots of things.

Ask God to hug you until your ghosts walk on by as you listen to life and make a life.

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"Is there a purpose for every season?"

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Have you noticed with the change of seasons comes less daylight? Most of us have change from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time this Sunday. But still there’s just not as much daylight now.

I understand all about the earth’s rotation and the seasons and distance from the sun. But somehow having less daylight affects me. I feel more tired at the end of the day, because it gets dark so much earlier.

In the summer, when it’s light until nine some evenings, I’d go home and work in the yard or cut the grass. I’d have all kinds of energy. Now it seems like I’m ready for bed by nine.

I guess there’s a rhythm to life, isn’t there? A beat that is fast sometimes and slow others. There’s a purpose to every season. I mean I couldn’t work forever at a summer pace. So maybe the purpose of fall is to slow us down a bit.

Each season has its own rhythm by God’s design; a design implanted in nature for your benefit. So find your rhythm this fall and enjoy it as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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"Forgiveness is a funny thing, isn’t it?"

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Stephen Watt was a Wyoming legislator who ran in the Republican primary for governor some years ago. Watt is also a former police officer who was shot in the line of duty nearly twenty years ago.

After the shooting, Watt says he became an angry and aggressive man, so much so that his wife nearly left him. Watt was nearly impossible to live with…until he forgave the man who shot him, a man that he says is now his best friend. During the gubernatorial primary, Watt said that if elected one of the first things he would do would be to pardon Mark Farnham, the man who shot him, who still has at least 35 years left in his sentence.

Forgiveness is a funny thing, isn’t it? You want to be forgiven even when you’re wrong, but you’re not so sure you can forgive someone else when he’s wrong.

The next time you find it hard to forgive someone, remember Stephen Watt forgiving Mark Farnham. Then think about who you need to ask forgiveness from. Then listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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"Are you blooming where you’re planted?"

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At first I thought I was mistaken. That couldn’t be what it looked like growing up in the seam between our asphalt driveway and the concrete garage. And yet the leaves sure looked like a vinca.

But as it grew bigger, that’s what it was. Somehow a tiny seed had wedged down in the crack and started to grow. But I just knew it wouldn’t grow big. That there was no nutrition in that crack. And even if it did, someone would back over it so many times that it would die.

But it didn’t die. It’s growing in between where the tires pass as we pull into the garage. And not only did it not die, it bloomed! That’s right, it kept pushing up through the crack, dodging tires, and bloomed. And not just one bloom, but several beautiful, bright blooms lighting up the asphalt and concrete.

There are people who will tell you that you can’t do something that you sense God is calling you to do. There will be every reason in the world why you can’t. Like this vinca, push your head on up above the crowd and bloom where you’re planted as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living everyday.

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"Are you 'just looking' at life?"

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Our family went shopping for our older daughter’s birthday present. You know that means we walked through every clothing store in the place.

We walked into one store and a nice young lady asked, "May I help you?" and we said, "We’re just looking."

Well, rather than assume we meant, "Go away, I have no intention of buying anything here," she said something like, "We’re having a really great sale on our tops. They’re reduced 25% and they’re so cute. They’re on the rack in the corner. Let me know if I can help you."

Of course, the "reduced 25%" caught my ear, "they’re so cute" caught our daughter’s ear, and I don’t have to tell you that we left that store with one of those cute deals.

As you shop around God’s world, and God asks, "May I help you?," even if you say, "I’m just looking," keep listening because God has something for you—a cute deal called your life. So instead of just looking, try listening to life and making a life, not just a living.

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