Enter your Email to Sign up for Dr. Joey's Today's Story


Powered by FeedBlitz

Thursday, February 05, 2009

"How dark is your life?"


I recently painted our master bedroom. My wife decided it was a great time to rearrange the furniture in the room. And that was okay by me. I like change…until I got up in the middle of the night the first night it was rearranged and bumped into a chair that wasn’t there before. Almost didn’t make it to the bathroom. Then the second night I stubbed my toe on a dresser. And the third night I tried to knock off another toe on the footboard of our bed.

It was then that I decided perhaps I needed to wake up and look where I was going. But I didn’t want to turn on a light and wake my wife. So I started peering into the darkness more…

…and discovered that the dark really isn’t so dark. The area light in a nearby horse pasture streams in through a window and lights part of my path. And on a night when there’s a full moon, one portion of the room is literally bathed in light; so bright I can see quite well.

Sometimes when your life seems dark, you’ll stub your spirit and get down. Just peer into the dark shadows and find God’s light as you listen to life!

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

"Do you help others the way you’ve been helped?"


Have you noticed that you’ll have a challenge or problem or opportunity in your life? And it can be pretty difficult to conquer, but then you ask God for help and get it? So you with God’s help overcome that situation. Then God sends you someone who’s struggling with the same problem?

For instance, let’s say your job is eliminated. You struggle for a while, but you find another job. Then all of a sudden, a friend calls to tell you he’s lost his job. You’re able to help him get through it.

Or, your parent becomes ill and can no longer live alone. You help her find a nursing facility, but it’s a long and arduous process of transition. You make it through the situation. And then you see a friend in the grocery store going through the same problem. You’re able to pass along some tips of the process.

I have a friend who has this saying posted on her office message board, “God helps us in all our troubles, so that we are able to help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God.”

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

"It's all a matter of perspective, isn't it?"


I shared a story with you a few months ago on my birthday. I joked about getting older and hair loss and how people often mistake my wife for my oldest daughter.

A friend who listens to life with us through www.ListentoLife.org is probably in her 80s or 90s and lives in a nursing facility. She enjoys these stories everyday and quite often writes to tell me. So on my birthday, she writes: “Many happy returns on your special day. You have so much to give others each day. Keep up the good work and don’t think about getting old. You don’t have the time.”

That’s certainly true, isn’t it? Time moves faster and faster and there’s less of it the older you get.

And focusing on keeping up the good work is a great way to spend your time, isn’t it? Helps you enjoy and use your time wisely.

So today, regardless of your age, “keep up the good work and don’t think about getting old” as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

Monday, February 02, 2009

"Do you give credit where credit is due?"


My youngest nephew got a Wii video game player for Christmas. He and I were playing it; I can’t remember if he was beating me at baseball or tennis or the Madden 09 Football game we gave him. I’m really enjoying myself anyway because he’s a lot of fun to be around. He’s seven. And I was acting seven.

So we’re playing away and I say to him, “I sure am glad Santa Claus brought you this Wii game. This is fun!”

And he says, “Yea, I’m really glad Santa brought it, too, because Mom and Dad sure couldn’t afford it.”

I fell down laughing and lost another game.

Obviously my brother or sister-in-law had told him how expensive the game is so they didn’t have to honor his request for it.

Do you give credit where credit is due? Like at work? Or, at home? Or, do you just think you do, but like my nephew, might not know all of the reality?

Be slow to take credit for something. Sure, go ahead and receive it. And give it where you think best…and be generous with it. Someone might deserve it that you don’t know about…like God.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

"Are you a creature of habit?"


My wife enjoys rearranging the kitchen counter periodically. I guess she just gets bored with the current arrangement so she shuffles everything around. The coffeemakers are moved from one side to the other which means the canisters with the sugar and flour and stuff are moved to the other side of the stove. And make room for them, the crock pot and tea maker are repositioned. And of course the napkins get a new location, too.

Well, I make the coffee every day. So the first day I walk in to discover this new arrangement, I of course go to the previous location of the coffeemakers and they’re not there. So I find them and begin my preparations. But then of course the coffee filters, which I had in a drawer near the makers, have to be relocated to another drawer closer to the makers. It took me about three days to stop walking over to the spot where I made coffee previously.

Life is constantly changing and moving your coffeemakers, isn’t it? And being a creature of habit, you return to the same spot, right? Ask God to help you listen to life so you can make a life in your constantly changing world.