Do you know enough to worry?

Let’s say I give you an apple seed. It’s a seed from a Washington Red Delicious. You love and have eaten bushels of them. You’ve even picked them. You know a tree-ripened apple from one picked early and sprayed to ripen. You make your own apple pies. You know just about everything there is to know about apples…

…except one thing. I ask you to look at that apple seed and tell me how many apples are in it. You can’t. And of course you can’t. You don’t know what the future holds. It’s reasonable to assume that seed contains bushels and bushels of apples in it, but it may hold none. You don’t know enough to say.

Just as you can’t look at that apple seed and tell me how many apples are in it, you don’t know enough about the future to worry. You can’t look at a life situation and tell what it contains. Sure, you can worry about a lot of possible outcomes, but you can’t with certainty say what will happen. 

When you start to worry today, remember: God knows. And God is in control.

What does God's voice sound like?

I walked into a restaurant recently, recognized someone and spoke to him for a moment. I moved on toward my table when someone called my name. I turned around and there was another friend. She said, “Even though my back was to you, I heard your voice and knew it was you.”

Some sounds are just more familiar than others, aren’t they? There are three trademarked sounds that I know you will recognize immediately: the NBC chimes, the MGM lion roar, and the Harley-Davidson engine sound. We hear and recognize these sounds quickly, like my friend did with my voice.

But there are some other sounds that we don’t recognize so quickly. What does God’s voice sound like anyway? God’s voice can sound like any voice, at any time, and anywhere. It sounds like goose bumps up and down your spine. Or a baby’s soft breathing. Or an “I love you.” God’s voice is more than a sound. It’s a feeling, too. So listen to life today for God’s voice with your ears, your eyes, and your heart as you make a life, not just a living.

Are you making a life?

Have you ever been so tired that all you wanted to do was sit and zone out in front of the TV? Too worn out to concentrate, you really don't watch anything but spend all your time channel surfing. After about a half-hour of this, you're so exhausted all you can do is stagger off to bed or, worse, don’t make it that far but fall asleep in the recliner. 

Have you ever settled down in your favorite chair with your favorite beverage, your favorite snack, and your favorite magazine, all ready—and you've earned it—to enjoy a little quiet time; only to have a short visitor show up with these big eyes, an impish grin, and say, "Mommy, would you read me a book?" or "Daddy, would you play catch?" or your spouse with a “How was your day, honey?” Now, which helps you make a life: a half-hour with glossy pages about baseball or beauty aids, or a half-hour with a snuggly child perched in your lap or with a budding All-Star in the back yard or spent talking with your spouse? 

Now I know it’s easier to channel surf or read a magazine, but listen to life today for what God has to say and make a life, not just a living.