The Life We Meant to Live

I’ve spent the better part of 30 years helping people intentionally grow.

As a business owner, a leadership and relationship guide, a wife, a mom of six adult kids, and now a grandparent of seven (my little favorite people call me “Grammy”), I’ve had a front-row seat to a whole lot of life.

The beautiful parts. The messy parts. The unexpected plot twists.

And with the gift of wisdom now, moments I’d go back and do a little differently.

For nearly 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of working personally with my friend and mentor John Maxwell, whose teaching has shaped me since I was 21 years old.

One of the things John has taught me is that growth doesn’t just happen.

We have to intentionally seek it out.

And after all these years, I’ve come to believe the same thing about building a life we love.

A meaningful life doesn’t happen by accident.

We Have Such Good Intentions

I don’t know many people who wake up in the morning hoping to be distracted, disconnected, impatient, or too busy for the people they love and care about.

Most of us have pretty wonderful intentions.

If you’re a person of faith, as I am, we want a growing relationship with God.

We want strong and thriving marriages and families.

We want meaningful work.

We want to be healthy, generous, present, and purposeful.

And then real life happens.

The phone rings. The texts pile up. The calendar fills. Someone needs something. The unexpected becomes urgent.

And sometimes the people and priorities we care about most get whatever is left.

I’ve experienced that myself.

Raising six kids while building a business, investing in my marriage, and serving others has given me plenty of opportunities to discover the difference between what I intended to prioritize and what actually got my attention. I’m not talking about bad things distracting me.

Many times it’s the good things that pull us from the BEST things we are meant to be doing.

And here’s something I’ve learned:

Just because something matters deeply to us doesn’t mean we’re automatically making room for it.

The Days Become Our Life

Psalm 90:12 has become one of those verses I return to again and again.

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

I don’t read that as a reminder to count how many days I have left.

I read it as an invitation to recognize how valuable each one is.

Because life doesn’t happen someday.

It happens today.

In the ordinary conversations.

The hurried mornings.

The opportunities to listen.

The decisions to forgive.

The moments we choose to lean into prayer instead of circling the drain in worry.

The time we give to people who will someday remember that we showed up when it mattered.

And those ordinary days eventually become our LifeStory.

Why I’m Part of Today Matters

That’s one of the reasons I’m so excited to be part of the leadership team at Today Matters, helping build Ankor.

I’ve spent decades helping people identify what they believe and value, understand who they are, and make intentional choices about the lives they’re building.

And I’ve seen how difficult that can be when our days are moving faster than our ability to reflect on them.

Ankor is being built to help people see how they’re actually spending their time and attention, recognize patterns, and make adjustments that bring their days into greater alignment with what matters most.

Not to tell us how to live.

Not to guilt trip us to change.

But to help us see our current reality more clearly so we can choose next steps more intentionally.

I believe technology can be a wonderful servant.

But it should never become the thing directing the way we spend our lives.

God has given us the responsibility, and the opportunity, to choose how we steward the days we’ve been given.

One Small Win for Today

So I’d love to invite you to try something simple.

Before you open your calendar tomorrow morning, take five minutes.

Ask God to help you recognize what matters most about the day ahead.

Then ask yourself:

Who needs my presence today?

What deserves my best attention?

What’s one thing I can do today that reflects the person I want to become?

Don’t make a list of twenty things.

Choose one.

Maybe it’s putting your phone away when your spouse or child is talking.

Maybe it’s praying before you begin your workday.

Maybe it’s getting back to your workouts again.

Maybe it’s simply being still long enough to listen.

One small, intentional choice.

And then another tomorrow.

Because you don’t have to redesign your entire life in one day.

You just have to remember that the life you’re building is made up of days like this one.

I’m looking forward to sharing more of these Reflections with you, and learning alongside you as we seek to live with greater faith, intention, and purpose.

Ankor. Because Today Matters.