How do you prepare for life?

You know, painting a bedroom really doesn’t take all that long. I guess you can paint a bedroom in several hours, can’t you?

What takes so long is the preparation. First, you have to move all of the furniture, either taking it out of the room, or moving it into the center of the room. If it stays in the room, then you have to cover it. Next, if there are pictures on the walls—and who doesn’t have pictures on the walls—you have to remove them. Most of us then spackle over the holes, sand them lightly, and create a smooth wall surface. Now if you have wallpaper up and you want to paint, removing that is a whole other matter that involves more tools and chemicals and more patience than I have some weekends. But all of this preparation, when done properly, is what insures a beautiful paint job. 

Sometimes life is a lot like painting a bedroom. It takes a lot longer to get ready to actually do something than it does to just do it. 

What's life like?

Have you ever thought about life as a board game?

Think about it. In a board game, you’re always trying to advance your playing piece, regardless of whether you’re playing Life, Candy Land, or Monopoly. You’re on your way somewhere. Sometimes you draw a card and have twins or get stuck in Molasses Swamp or land on Baltic Avenue and other times, Boardwalk. Sometimes you draw a “Get Out of Jail Free” card and other times you land on “Go Straight to Jail. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200.”

Sometimes you roll or spin your best effort and you advance 6 spaces and celebrate. Other times, you give it your best effort, and advance 6 spaces, only to discover that you’ve got to go back twenty.

Life is like a board game. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense. But you keep playing, don’t you? I guess that’s because you’re going somewhere and will get there someday. 

Since life is like a board game, as you’re going somewhere, go with God as your traveling companion. And listen to life so you can make a life, not just a living.

Who decides how fast you go?

I was recently standing around talking with a group of people. One of them talked about driving during a recent trip. His speedometer stopped working while he drove down an interstate so he had no idea of how fast or slow he was going.

“What did you do?” someone asked.

“I just kept driving,” he said. 

And another person said, “How did you know how fast you were going?”

“Well,” he said, “the truth is that I didn’t. What I did was to just go with the flow of the traffic. However fast they went, that’s how fast I went.”

I stood there thinking to myself, “You let other people decide how fast you’d go.” 

And you know, that’s what a lot of us do with life. You may let other people—at work or home or the Jones family next door—set your pace, determine your actions, choose your sense of right and wrong. Try letting God set your pace as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.