What Is Your Life’s Highest Contribution?
My encouragement to you this month: As much as you can—and on an ongoing basis because it will change and grow—think about this question: What is your life’s highest contribution? That is, given your gifts, abilities, experiences, and passions—who you are—what is the greatest thing in your life that you can offer to the world or the Kingdom of God? What do you hope to contribute to others or do in God’s hands before you die?What is your life’s highest contribution? Think about that. Until you have a clear answer. Even if it takes your whole life. Because: Do you really have…
Form a New Habit This Year
One of the best gifts you can give yourself this year is to form a new habit. I used to set goals I usually didn’t reach because I didn’t focus on the process. That is, I didn’t create habits that when consistently practiced would naturally result in the goal. I wish I had internalized then what I’m writing to you now. You may or may not be familiar with the significance of habits, but they are the mundane building blocks of most best things in life. Can you identify area in your life that would benefit by changing or forming a new…
Reflect–What Do You See?
As many normal things take a break for Christmas and end of the year busyness, most of us also reflect back on the year and plan for the next. If you take several hours or a day and seriously reflect back on the year, what do you see? What would you re-do? What moves you to thankfulness? What generates hope? Most important, have you experienced personal growth in 2021? Getting past what’s going on in the world and past the hardships and hassles you’ve had, how have you grown in •Your faith?•Your identity and character?•Your personal maturity?•Your relationships?•Your career?•Your contribution to the world or…
God Redeems, Restores, Reconstructs
The beautiful work of God in your life never has to cease. Last month I wrote about how my dog ripped up my Bible, and the experience offered a fresh expression of the gospel. The dog pictured is my little messenger, Angel. For about a week and a couple hours a day, with lots of tape, contact cement, pieces of paper spliced into pages, and lots of painstaking, patient work, I repaired and reconstructed the damaged Bible. The once-destroyed pages are now strongerthan they originally were. This is precisely what God does in our lives when we say, “Yes, Lord.” Whatever we…
The Gospel from a Dog
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and my dog ripped it apart all the way to Enoch and Noah. The photo is of what my dog did to my holy Bible in the back seat floor of my car while I was driving down the road with the windows open and wind blowing, so I couldn’t hear her tearing it apart. Why did she do it?Because it was fun.I should kill her.But I don’t.Because I love her too much.I don’t even spank her. She’s usually the perfect dog. So why did she do it? Because she loves pawing at…
