"Are you hanging on until you’re ripe?"

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When I lived on the East Coast, just across the road from us was a field of about a hundred acres of strawberry plants. The owners ran an international plant shipping business and harvested berries to sell.

Migrant workers began picking in early April each year. Most if not all of the strawberries they harvested weren’t ripe, mostly red on the outside, but not through the middle. They didn’t spoil like this on the way to the store.

Well, around the end of April or the first of May, the migrant workers stopped picking. There were no longer enough slightly ripened berries in the field. And then the owners called us, telling us we could glean in the fields whatever we wanted.

So we would pick until our backs hurt. And these berries were better than any you can buy because they had stayed on the plant until they were fully ripe, through and through.Are you the same through and through?

Are you on the vine with God long enough to ripen? Hang onto God as you make a life, not just a living.

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"What's your favorite color?"

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I decided a few weeks ago that my favorite color is green. Why green?

Well, a couple of months ago, the horse pastures on our farm were brown.

The trees in the woods beside the pastures were simply tall sticks. Looking across the farm at the nearby mountains, I discovered that the landscape was gray.

Now that spring is here on the North American continent, the pastures are a beautiful green. The trees in the woods beside the pastures bloomed and leafed out and are now a brilliant green. And looking across the farm at the nearby mountains, the landscape is a bouquet of shades of green.

So green is now my favorite color. To me, it symbolizes a newness of life, when all seemed dead. To me, it offers a refreshing spirit of life, when all seemed oh so boring. The color green speaks God to me, and all that is good about life.

So what’s your favorite color? And why? And what does it say to you about God? Not sure? Then listen to life today and make a colorful life.

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"Do you ever say the wrong thing?"

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Sometimes, I say one thing and mean another, don’t you? Or say something and it doesn’t quite come out the way I intended. Here are some newspaper headlines that do just that:

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

The great thing about talking with God is God understands what you mean even when you say it wrong. So talk to God and then listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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"Is your spirit just a little sore?"

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I remember when I got bifocals for the first time. It was really interesting getting adjusted to them. They were progressive lenses so they were really quite easy to use.

But at first, I looked like one of those bobble head dolls. That’s the way I looked trying to find the right angle to look through the lens to read up close, or at arm’s length, or at a distance. I moved my head up and down, searching for that visual sweet spot, until I found it. It was really interesting when I worked overhead, hammering a nail into a 2x4 or something like that out on the farm.

After about a week or so of bifocals, I noticed that my neck had a little muscle strain in it. I wondered, “Where did this come from?” And then it hit me—because of the bifocals and my bobble head, I had used a muscle in a different way.

So if there’s anything sore in your spirit, it could be from something you’re doing differently. And that something could help you make a life, not just a living. Think about it as you listen to life today for what God has to say.

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"How are you growing?"

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Last fall, I planted some daffodils in front of one of my rose beds. And they’ve come up, bravely lifting their golden heads to see if winter really is gone and spring has come. They started timidly at first, just barely pushing up a green leaf or two. Then as they survived, more and more leaves emerged, until finally those golden heads shone through.

As they came on up, I noticed something really interesting. Our home shades the daffodils from all of the eastern, morning sun. Not a ray gets through. But the afternoon, western sun gets completely through, bathing the daffodils everyday with its light and warmth.

And so, as the daffodils golden flowers popped through, guess which way they looked toward. That’s right, every single one of them faces its cup towards the western sun.

Where does the warm light come from that nourishes you? Who are the people God sends to you to brighten your day? Grow your spirit toward the light of life. Spend your day basking in God as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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