LIVE YOUR LIFE!
A few weeks ago, I was walking King around the lake and weaving back through our neighborhood. There is a house on a nearby street with the most incredible flower beds, carefully labeled and perfectly pruned. Each winter, the couple brings certain bulbs inside and carries them back out each spring. It is clearly an art form that requires hard work, commitment, and patience.
As we came by that day, both of them were out in the yard. The husband stood near the road, the wife worked farther back. I stopped to tell them how beautiful their garden always looked. He smiled, half-laughed, and said, “Son, don’t ever do this. Don’t do it. Get out there and live your life.”
I laughed with him, thanked him, and kept walking, but his words stayed with me long after. There was something honest in the way he said it, an acknowledgment of the tedious, complicated, and time-consuming work this hobby required, paired with the quiet joy of doing something that clearly mattered to his wife. But the part that settled into me was this: Get out there and live your life.
It made me think about how easy it is to fill our days with tasks that keep us productive but not present, busy but not alive. How often we spend our energy maintaining things rather than experiencing them. His comment felt less like a warning about gardening and more like a reminder to pay attention to what brings us life—to what lights us up—and to the moments that make us feel awake to the world again.
Sometimes wisdom arrives from unexpected places: a neighbor, dirt under his fingernails, offering truth without even intending to. And sometimes all it takes is one simple line to pull us back to ourselves, to kindness, to presence, to light.
So, keep shining, friends. And remember to live your life along the way—today and every day.
5 Ways to Be the Light
Pause before the next task. Ask yourself, Is this bringing me life—or just keeping me busy?
Make room for joy. Choose one small thing today that makes you feel awake to the world again.
Listen for unexpected wisdom. Sometimes the most profound lessons arrive in casual conversations.
Be present where your feet are. Life isn’t happening later—it’s unfolding right now, in front of you.
Live your life. Not the one others expect, but the one that feels honest, kind, and full of light.
Remember: kindness isn’t one more thing, it’s the thing that changes everything.
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