Author Archives: Steve

How do I find meaning in life?

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In St. Marys, GA, there is an old cemetery that Laurel and I have walked through to pass the time while on vacation. Many of the tombstones communicate how the deceased wanted to be remembered. Some have boats. Some have fish. One has an airplane.

In our thinking, the most interesting of these tombstones is pictured here, shaped like a smiley. It turns out that it is on the grave of someone who is remembered for working at Walmart. That may seem silly to you, wanting to be remembered for working at Walmart, but I want to suggest that in the face of eternity a Walmart smiley on a tombstone is no less significant and meaningful than a carving of a sailboat.

For what will you be remembered?

This podcast speaks of a woman who made her life memorable. From her example we can learn more about what’s important and ways we can make our own lives meaningful.

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How do I stop obsessing…

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Whenever we play Scrabble in our home, we have a rule that if you score over 300 points you get to write your name in the box lid. It’s a highly sought-after position — having your name in the Scrabble box lid with your score beside it. One time Esther and I were playing and she was beating the slop out of me. She was well on her way to a 350 point game. But it was late at night and Tim had just moved to a bad section of the city. He was coming home on a bus and he realized he didn’t know where to get off the bus. He called me to get online and look it up for him.

Esther and I put our Scrabble game on hold and I worked to help my son get from the bus to his stop to his home in the dark of night. While everyone else was fine, I was out of my mind, obsessing about him getting home. Eventually, because of my inability to think of anything else, we had to abort the Scrabble game. What would have been the highest game Esther had ever played ended.

I have to say, Esther was not happy, but handled it very well.  I, on the other hand, regret it to this day.

The tendency we have to obsess about things is one that can effect our life negatively in far more important areas than game play. It hinders healthy living. This podcast offers some keys to escaping the pitfall of obsession.

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How to Stop Blaming Others…

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Years ago, there was a commercial for some laundry detergent that had a woman trying to get rid of the ring around the collar of her husband’s shirt. You saw the wife holding the shirt in her hand and hearing the voice chanting, Ring around the collar!

The narrator pointed out a distressed wife trying and trying to get the stains out as he says: You’ve tried scrubbing them out and soaking them out and you still get RING AROUND THE COLLAR! In the commercial, the ring around the collar was seen as telltale evidence of her failure.

What the ad never addressed was the obvious question: “Why didn’t that guy wash his neck?”

All of us have a tendency to fall into the pitfall of blaming others. Not blame for ring around the collar. But blame concerning the mistakes you commit in your life.

So let’s just clear the air. For many of the troubles you face in life, there’s no one to blame but yourself. Now that’s not true for everything. But for many things that is the case.

This podcast  addresses the tendency we all have to play the blame game as we struggle with The Pitfall of Blaming.

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