"What's your wish for the new year?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

I sat with a group of mostly college students, all of them women, as they talked about what was going on in their lives. One’s boyfriend was due home from Iraq in a couple of weeks. Another was trying to make her life more purposeful. And another had quit smoking.

“I just decided to quit,” she said. “I quit cold turkey—no patch, no pills, no gum. I just quit. And it was hard,” she said, “I mean I’ve been smoking for seven years. It’s what I do. I smoke. I’m a smoker. And my friends don’t understand. They ask me for my lighter and I say, ‘I quit.’ And they say, ‘What?’ They ask to bum a cigarette and I say, ‘I quit.’ And they say, ‘Why?’”

She went on to say, “I know I’m doing the right thing, but it sure is hard.”

Doing the right thing is hard, isn’t it? Even if your old behaviors are killing you or make you miserable, they’re still familiar, aren’t they? And the people around still expect you to be that way, don’t they?

Yes, doing the right thing is hard, but it’s well worth the effort. Resolve to do the right thing in 2010 as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"Will you do the right thing next year?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

I sat with a group of mostly college students, all of them women, as they talked about what was going on in their lives. One’s boyfriend was due home from Iraq in a couple of weeks. Another was trying to make her life more purposeful. And another had quit smoking.

“I just decided to quit,” she said. “I quit cold turkey—no patch, no pills, no gum. I just quit. And it was hard,” she said, “I mean I’ve been smoking for seven years. It’s what I do. I smoke. I’m a smoker. And my friends don’t understand. They ask me for my lighter and I say, ‘I quit.’ And they say, ‘What?’ They ask to bum a cigarette and I say, ‘I quit.’ And they say, ‘Why?’”

She went on to say, “I know I’m doing the right thing, but it sure is hard.”

Doing the right thing is hard, isn’t it? Even if your old behaviors are killing you or make you miserable, they’re still familiar, aren’t they? And the people around still expect you to be that way, don’t they?

Yes, doing the right thing is hard, but it’s well worth the effort. Resolve to do the right thing in 2010 as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"Do you look up?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

I planted some pansies in one of our flower gardens recently. They really started blooming a couple of weeks after I stuck them in the ground. I was excited because they looked so great. And I mentioned them to my wife, asking her, “Hey! What do you think about those pansies?”

And she said, “Well, I really haven’t noticed. When I walk by them, my head must be down. I must be thinking about something else.”

Now she walks by those flowers beds numerous times each day taking the horses to and from the barn. It’s not a matter of not having an opportunity to see them. It’s more about what she’s looking for.

You see what you’re looking for. If you keep your head down in life, you don’t see the beauty blooming all around you that God planted for your enjoyment. If you look up, your perspective broadens from your own thinking to experience what God wants to share with you.

Resolve to look up and enjoy the world around you in the New Year as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"Are you blooming?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

A heavy frost fell on our farm for several nights in a row. The temperatures plunged below freezing for over a week. It was our first cold snap of the fall and we were all trying to adjust to it…

…except for this one rose bush in our backyard. Somehow, this bush didn’t get the word that it was time to stop blooming, because it kept on blooming. One bloom at a time appeared on the bush, each one perfectly shaped; its resplendent colors bursting on your eye against the gray-brown backdrop of the yard.

And as each bloom emerged, I cut it at just the right time, brought it inside my office, put it in a vase, and marveled as it continued to unfold its beauty. Who would have thought it—a rose bloom in freezing temperatures!

Sometime in the New Year the world around you will get cold and you will feel like quitting. But like this rose, be persistent, persevere, put on your best face, brave the cold, and bloom in the midst of adversity. Your beauty unfolds and blesses you and the people around you as you make a life, not just a living.

Discover more great stories like this one!

"Do you have any gifts to exchange?"

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey tell his story!

Three sons were discussing their Christmas gifts for their mother. The first said, “I built a big house for our mother.” The second son said, “I sent her a luxury automobile with a driver.” The third son said, “You remember how our mother enjoys reading the Good Book and now she can’t see very well. I sent her a remarkable parrot that recites every chapter and verse. It took the elders twelve years to teach him. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse and the parrot recites it.”

When the mother wrote her thank you notes, she wrote to the first son, “The house you built is too big. I live in one room, but have to clean them all.” To the second son she wrote, “I’m too old to travel and the driver is rude.” To the third son she wrote, “Thank you so much! The chicken was delicious!”

So do you have any gifts to exchange? Whatever you exchange, make sure you keep at least one gift—God with us.

Discover more great stories like this one!