"Which do you see—blue sky or clouds?"

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I was driving to an out of state speaking engagement when I started noticing the sky. There were clouds in the sky, and there was almost an equal proportion of clouds and blue sky.

For a moment, I thought, "It’s going to rain" because of the clouds. Then I thought, "Well no, it’s clearing up" because there was just as much blue sky as there were clouds. I wondered, "So, is it partly cloudy or partly sunny today?"

Is your life like this sky at times? Sometimes it seems like the dark clouds are forming on your life’s horizon and something ominous is about to happen. But then you look at your life from another perspective and it’s clearing up; something positive happens and life isn’t so dark.

You and I choose whether it’s partly cloudy or partly sunny in life, don’t we? You can focus on the dark clouds and continuously run for cover from rainstorms that may never show. Or, you can focus on the blue sky and prepare for a bright day. Either way, you choose whether your life is partly cloudy or sunny.

Ask God to help you choose as you make a life, not just a living today.

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"Do you say what you mean?"

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Have you ever spoken a word to someone and discovered that the word meant one thing to you and something else to the other person? Let me give you an example.

Recently a fourth grader was doing her homework. She had just come from her ballet class, still dressed in her leotard, and was working on the definition of the word, "routine." I overheard her talking with her mom about it. So I’m thinking about how some people I coach prefer a routine instead of a schedule, a prescribed method of doing something as opposed to a time-driven schedule. Evidently the mom is as well since she describes something similar.

Well, the little girl says, "No mom, this is a dance word."

"How’s that?," the mom says.

"You know, Mom," the little girl says, "like a dance routine."

Amazing, isn’t it, how you can use the same word as someone else and you’re thinking of something different? The great thing about praying to God is God knows how you use words and what you mean. So pray without worrying about being misunderstood. Then listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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"How’s your thinking?"

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When was the last time you slowed down long enough to sit and stare at the clouds? Remember when you did that as a child? And named what you saw in the clouds’ shapes?

Recently I was between meetings. I stepped outside, found a rocking chair, and sat and stared at the clouds. I remembered naming cloud shapes when I was a kid and decided to try it again.

But all I could think about was, "I wonder if it’ll rain this afternoon" and then I wondered about frontal systems and low pressure areas and had a hurricane blown up and since I hadn’t heard the news if I was unprepared. Finally, I made myself stop thinking like this, focused back on the shapes in the clouds, and found an elephant, a kangaroo, a cow, and other shapes.

How often do you take the same way you’ve always thought to a new problem? You have to think differently to solve your life’s challenges. Same thinking leads to same solutions which don’t fit new problems.

God gave you an incredible mind. Use all of it as you listen to life today.

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"In the midst of the horrors we call war, do you understand and forgive?"

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I talked with a World War II veteran one day. He served in the European theater, in Germany, during the final days of Hitler’s retreat. He told me about walking down dirt roads and seeing German bodies lying in ditches and fields. He told me how some of his fellow soldiers kicked and spat on those German bodies.

He also told me how his fellow soldiers kicked and spat on German prisoners being escorted to camps. They called the Germans names and beat them.

But this veteran told me that when he looked at the German bodies lying in fields and ditches, and when he walked by the German prisoners going to camps, that he didn’t see "Germans"; he didn’t see "the enemy."
Instead he saw young men his own age who left behind wives and families to follow orders to shoot to kill; young men just like himself. My friend, in the midst of the horrors we call war, understood and forgave.

Listen to life and understand and forgive your enemies today.

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"Life’s a matter of perspective, isn’t it?"

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I am a year younger today. "Once a man, twice a child" my grandfather always told me. So that’s why I’m younger today, not older. At the rate I’m getting senior beverages, losing hair and being asked if my wife is my daughter, I’ll be drooling on myself again with just a few teeth left very shortly.

I have a friend who’s older than me. In fact, she’s older than my parents. She moved not so long ago. She emailed me recently to say, "Where I lived previously, I was an old lady with a cane. But now that I’m in a retirement home, I’m younger than most and just grateful to be here. Growing old is a gift. Live life to the fullest."

I really like that, don’t you? Age isn’t a matter of chronology, but perspective. Ever noticed how "an elderly person" is someone at least 10 years older than you, regardless of your age? And how "a young person" is someone about 10 years younger than you?

My friend is right—growing old is a gift God gives you. And you start unwrapping it the day you’re born. So make a life, not just a living today…no matter what your age!

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