Who are you with?

Once upon a time, I had an exercise bike. I rode it for a while, but pretty soon I threw a pair of jeans on it, then a shirt, then some clothes waiting to be ironed, and it became an expensive clothes rack. So one day I moved it to the storage room.

Then I got a ski machine. It was great, after I became coordinated enough to swing my arms and legs simultaneously. And I used it for a while, but then one day I threw a pair of jeans on it, then a shirt, then some clothes waiting to be ironed, and it became a super-expensive clothes rack. So I moved it to the basement.

Then I wanted a treadmill. And I remembered the bike and ski machine.

Instead I bought a membership at a fitness center. And I go exercise there several times a week.

What’s the difference? At home, I exercise alone. At the gym, I’m with lots of people, all of them doing the same thing. I discovered I’m encouraged by people doing what I’m doing.

Surround yourself today with people who make a life and not just a living.

"Words really do matter, don’t they?"

A blind man sat on the steps of a building on a beautiful spring day. His hat was at his feet along with a sign that read, “I am blind. Please help.”

A woman walked by and stopped to observe the man’s situation. She noticed that the blind man had just a few coins in his hat. So she dropped in a few more coins and, without even asking permission, took his sign and began writing on it. She replaced the sign and left.

The woman returned to see the blind man later that afternoon. She noticed that his hat was full of not just coins, but bills also. The blind man recognized her footsteps and asked, “Are you the one who stopped earlier and did something to my sign?”

“Yes,” the woman said, “but everything I wrote was true. I just wrote the message a little differently than you had.”

The new sign read, “Today is Spring and I can’t see it.”

Words really do matter, don't they? Look for the words you can best say today as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.