From the moment you open your eyes each morning until the moment they close again, you tell yourself stories.

Those stories direct your thoughts and actions for the day.

The stories and actions you repeat over and over remain with you the next morning, and then the next morning after that.

Mornings turn into weeks, then months and years.

And before you know it those stories add up to who you believe yourself to be.

You ponder the good, the bad, the scary, and the undone.

You walk around with an identity that never quite seems complete.

Then one day, your life comes to a close.

And then the storytelling is left to the ones you leave behind.

They tell a lot of stories too.

Wonderful ones.

Stories that capture your best and most loving qualities.

And something else beautiful happens…

All of those fears you had.

All of the tears you shed.

All of the times you stubbed your toe…

Those stories die with your body.

Miraculously, only the good stuff stays alive.

Can I share something deeply personal with you?

I think those stories are the ones that God has been telling about you all along.

I think those stories are the ones that mattered all along.

I think those stories are the ones we should wake up, and fall asleep telling ourselves.

Because at the end of your life, your goodness wins.

The bad fades.

And the only tragedy about that is that you aren’t around to see how incredibly powerful that is.

So don’t wait, my friend.

Lean into the good stuff.

It doesn’t have an expiration date, but you do.

Wake up with the good.

Sleep with the good.

Do more of the good.

It’s all that ever mattered anyway.

Cheers,

BW