As a man, I have always been drawn to finding solutions. Give me a problem, and my instinct is to roll up my sleeves and get to work. Time and effort rarely discourage me. If I have the will, I believe I can find a way. An obstacle is an invitation to think differently, try again, and keep going. When a solution hasn’t appeared, my first thought is that we simply haven’t found it… yet.
Life Happens
Shel Silverstein captured that spirit in “Listen to the Mustn’ts,” reminding us that even in a world full of limits, possibility remains.
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child, listen to the Don’ts, listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossible, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… anything can happen, child, anything can be.” – Shel Silverstein, 1930 – 1999, Poet, Listen to the Mustn’ts
That belief has carried me a long way. Life, though, has taught me something equally valuable: some problems don’t have the solutions we want. There are relationships that cannot be repaired. Some goodbyes are final. That’s the hard one.
Accepting those truths takes courage. And even when we cannot change an outcome, we still have choices about how we live beyond it. There is hope in that. There is room to grow, to find meaning, and eventually, to feel joy again.
Matthew 6:34: “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
It’s Not About Solutions
We don’t have to figure out the rest of our lives today. Sometimes our task is simply to take the next breath, accept a helping hand, and do one small thing that moves us forward. A difficult day can be met one moment at a time.
I have learned that loving deeply can mean grieving deeply. When someone or something has brought us tremendous joy, their absence can leave an enormous void. Yet the love we experienced remains part of us. It lives in our memories, in what we learned, and in how we care for others.
We could try to protect ourselves from the crash by never taking flight. But consider what we would miss: connection, laughter, companionship, and the extraordinary experience of loving and being loved. Those things make the risk worth taking, even when our hearts need time to believe it again.
I say this with respect for how overwhelming loss can be. We have all been in that storm. I have known moments when every breath felt difficult, my thoughts moved too quickly to put into words, and getting through the day took everything I had.
It’s About Your Future
In those moments, hope was often small. Sometimes it was a conversation, or someone sitting beside me. Sometimes it was simply giving myself another day.
Here is what I have learned: I am loved. I matter. My presence makes a difference for family and friends, even in ways I may never fully see. I deserve their care, and I can let them help me carry what feels too heavy to carry alone.
Strength includes reaching out. It also includes resting, grieving, and beginning again as many times as we need. Progress can be slow and still be real.
Some things cannot be fixed. Still, a meaningful life can take shape around what we have lost. We can carry forward the love, honor what mattered, and remain open to new people, new purpose, and new joy.
We don’t need every answer to take the next step.
Today, we can choose one small act of courage. We can call someone, step outside, accept support, or simply make room for a moment of peace.
You Are Loved
Right now, there is someone in your life who you don’t see but who is thinking this about you: “I can’t promise how this will turn out, but I will stand beside you through it—you are loved, you matter, and you don’t have to see a way forward for us to take the next step together.”
There is more life ahead. And we are worth the effort it takes to reach it.
“Even during the worst hardships, when the other things in our lives seem to fall apart, we can still find peace in the eternal love of God.” – Armstrong Williams
Your Impact Reaches Beyond What You See. I have had an amazing journey through mountaintops and the deepest valleys. Through it all, God kept investing in me in ways I didn’t always understand, and for a purpose I couldn’t always see. I wanted to share that journey with you.
Today, I’m asking myself whether I can be trusted with much. Do I look at a subset of gifts God has given me and determine that they are the only ones God cares about, or do I include all of the blessings and attributes of my existence to serve God? I think I have a tendency to pick and choose.
We have but one purpose. I have spent a great deal of my life thinking about, planning for, and pursuing my purpose. For most of that time, I was clueless about my true purpose. It seemed to morph over time. There were seasons when I thought I had a good handle on it, only to see my life shift.
Life turns and sprints away; I often come across quotes worth remembering—not simply because they inspire me, but because they tell me something true. They remind me of the basic truths I need to put into practice, especially when life asks more of me than I feel ready to give.
Finding the right path in life can seem like looking for Waldo. But God looks at it differently.
In my more than seventy-five years, I find it interesting that I spent fifty years doing what I love, for the most part, yet I remember data points but not the effort it took to achieve them. I have spent over thirteen thousand days perfecting my craft, and I recall facts, but most of the emotion has been lost to time. Yet a chance meeting with a stranger decades ago remains vivid in my mind. His need outweighed my inconvenience. The emotion of that encounter is real, as if it happened yesterday. I can still see his eyes. The pain in them was deeper than anything I had experienced. Later in life, I, too, would have his eyes. I, too, would know what it is like to feel emotional pain that defies words.
I sometimes feel invisible. By nature, I’m a worker bee. I prefer to stay in the background. When the spotlight is on me, I’m uncomfortable. I find it hard to accept a compliment. To me, it’s not about humility; it’s about being truthful. It’s not about lacking self-confidence; it’s about being realistic. I am who I am: nothing extraordinary. I can do what God created me to do.
This morning, I found myself thinking about how God interacts with me through the Holy Spirit, prodding me toward a life worth living. My mind slowly turned to why He puts certain people in my life—often people with problems.
There are leaders, and there are those who lead. Leaders may hold positions of power; those who truly lead inspire.