"Do you keep an “ought to” list or a “want to” list?"

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 So what kind of lists do you keep? Not just the ones you write down, but the ones running around in your head—what do you call those lists?

Do you keep an “ought to” list in mind? You know, I “ought to” do this. I “ought to” do that. I guess most of us do. I’m not exactly sure where we get these lists.

What about a “want to” list? Do you keep one of those in mind? The kind where you list your heart’s desires, your soul’s longings, your spirit’s passion.

Which list gets more of your daily attention?

If you discovered today that you’ll die around 8PM, which list would you go to—the “ought to” or the “want to”?  

Yea, I thought so. Your “want to” list is a part of your spiritual DNA that God put in you. Your “ought to” list was installed by someone else.

Today, remember that you’re free to choose which list to live from. Use your freedom wisely and choose God’s list, okay? 

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"What are your core values?"

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 I received an email recently with the subject line: “I made a mistake and I’m sorry.” I recognized the sender as someone who wants me to do business with him. I’ve benefited from his business advice before so I opened the email, mostly intrigued by his subject. It’s not every day a business person admits a mistake of any kind…

This mistake was about a coaching program he offers that lasts a year. He condensed it and planned to offer it as a 4-month program until someone in his year-long program reminded him that, according to his promotional information, this program was the only kind in which he offered one-on-one coaching. He admitted that he forgot having said that, but nonetheless was cancelling the shorter program. He said, “...you already know I’m committed to being a prolific marketer. But I am also just as committed to being an honest one.”

Would you say this guy listens to life and makes a life, not just a living? And that one of his core values is honesty? What are your core values?

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"What's your attitude?"

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So I’m on my tractor, enjoying time in God’s gorgeous world, mowing our horse pastures with no distractions from my office phone or cell phone, or email or text messages. It was an absolute joy to be outdoors, until…

…I’m mowing along in some pretty thick grass and weeds. I turn the tractor sharply to avoid a large rock. And as I did, I hit another rock which, unbeknown to me, lobbed up in the air, and hit me on my right jaw.

Well, of course, I was shocked. “How could this happen?” I thought. “I’ve been mowing this pasture for ten years and nothing like this had ever happened.”

So I stopped the tractor and rubbed my jaw. No blood. Then I opened my mouth. It opened fine. I shut my mouth. It shut fine. Then I opened and shut it several times and it was fine.

Then my shock and disbelief turned immediately into gratitude. I realized it could have been much, much worse. And I thanked God that I was okay.

Be sure to keep a “It could have been worse” attitude. Sure, bad things happen to you, but God is with you. Keep God close and make a life today.

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"What's going on?"

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 It had rained all week. But Saturday was beautiful! So I jumped on my tractor—after getting the flat tire fixed—and started mowing the horse pastures.

 We live on the northwest side of what passes for a mountain in our part of the world. That means we get a lot of water running off of the mountain and down through the pastures. Most of it runs through a culvert, but with so much rain, the area around the culvert was pretty wet…wetter than I realized.

The weeds had grown pretty high, pretty quickly in this area. Along with the grass, they obstructed my view of the ground. So I steered the tractor in the direction of those weeds until I noticed the front wheels of the tractor going down, down, down…in mud. I quickly stopped, backed up before I got stuck, and decided that the ground would have to dry up before I could mow.

Do you ever just steer on with your life in a certain direction? So fixed on accomplishing your task that you don’t pay attention to your surroundings? Like what other people are going through? Until you get stuck?

Listen to your life today and ask God to you what’s going on around you.

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"Do you assume?"

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 It was a beautiful Saturday after a rainy week. I was so happy to be outside, mowing the horse pastures on my tractor.  

I noticed after a few hours of mowing that the tractor was hard to steer. And it kept getting harder and harder… I was literally standing up to steer. I thought to myself, “I don’t what needs some grease, but something does.”  

So I started looking around for a grease fitting, all the while continuing to roll on and mow. I kept looking around and looking around…until I noticed that my front tire was flat. I had to stop.

Well, I felt pretty ignorant at best and stupid at worst that I hadn’t noticed it earlier. That I had assumed I knew what the tractor needed…but was wrong.

Do you ever make the same mistake with your life? Something is wrong. Life is harder and harder, and you just keep on going, but you assume you know what you need…until it’s too late and the problem becomes apparent and you have to stop.

Don’t assume today. Ask God for help as you make a life, not just a living…before you have to stop.

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