Changing Can’ts to Won’ts

Can’t and won’t. Christians need to be very careful which one they choose. It seems that we prefer to use “can’t.”
“I just can’t get along with my wife.” “My husband and I can’t communicate.” “I can’t discipline the kids as I should.” “I just can’t give up the affair I’m having.” “I can’t stop overeating.” “I can’t find time to pray.”

Divine Relief

What those little Visine drops do for our eyes, relief does for our sighs . . . “it gets the red out.” Few feelings bring a greater sense of satisfaction than relief, which Webster defines as “the removal or lightening of something oppressive, painful, or distressing.”

Sitting in the Light

“You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is required. The stars neither require it nor demand it” (Annie Dillard). A lot of things in life are like that, aren’t they?

What Employees Want

Ponder that list. Notice what isn’t included in the top ten: job security, benefits, vacation time, and high salary. Yet most companies still operate as though they are the big four—the only ways to motivate and keep their employees. Ours is a new world. We cannot exist as though it isn’t changing.

Workplace Lessons

While traveling across northern California several years ago, I tuned in a radio talk show where the host had just conducted a poll of his listeners regarding job satisfaction. Some sort of questionnaire had been mailed to folks within a broad radius of several cities along the San Francisco peninsula and East Bay region. The show’s host had gathered and compiled the answers and was, that day, announcing the results.

Worth Your Time

It was Ernest Hemingway who once said, “Time is the least thing we have of.” And he was right. How quickly time passes—and how often we lament this. If only we could tack an extra twenty-five or thirty years on to the usual span. There is so much more we want to see, to celebrate, to do. So many places to go, so much to enjoy, to feel, to read, to talk about, to participate in, to encounter. Yet, for each of us, this thing called time is in such short supply.

Making Memories

Call me sentimental, but some tunes really send me reeling. And nobody—I mean nobody—does it any better than Barbra Streisand. Her rendition of “The Way We Were” is pretty close to the ultimate in my book. Remember the words? “Memories . . . light the corners of my mind . . . .”

Everybody’s Treat

“My treat!” Nice words to hear, huh? They have flowed into my ears from any number of places. At Thirty-One Flavors on a smoggy, stifling, sweltering August afternoon after I’ve ordered a double-decker “pralines ‘n’ cream, dark cone” with a buddy. He digs deeper, faster. I start licking, smilin’. Full of gratitude, I leave wondering why I ordered two scoops. We laugh. I say thanks.

Looking at Life

Snap a telescopic lens on your perspective for the next few minutes. Pull yourself up close . . . close enough to see the real you. From the reflection in your mental mirror, pay close attention to your life. Try your best to examine the inner “you” on the basis of time.

Physicians

Of all the professions, that of the physician has to be the most paradoxical. Brilliant and quick-thinking . . . yet unable to write so that anybody (except a pharmacist) can decipher the words. Decisive and disciplined . . . yet more preoccupied than an overworked inventor on the edge of a discovery. He’s the only guy I know who can have both hands in your mouth while asking you three questions back to back as he stares up your nose and has his mind on his golf game. Honest and principled . . . yet lies through his teeth every time he says, “This won’t hurt a bit . . . you’ll hardly feel it.”