40 quietly laps you when you're more bent on running, writing, and preparing for fall break in New York than recalling how old you are. But all of a sudden, you're the age your teenage self remembers your parents. So you begin a list of little learnings you've picked up the past four decades. Fundamentals, you title it.

At first it's a dare. Can you write down 40 life lessons? Then it's a whittling, as you narrow to just 40.

While revising and rearranging, you realize how much you need each reminder to stick to the essentials. Because we tend to overcomplicate what it means to live like Jesus, right where we are. We add in extra criteria until a mission-minded life–including actual friendships with our neighbors–feels out of reach.

So let's stick with simple, shall we?

Links mentioned:

1. Get a FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days.
2. Read the written version of this episode HERE.
3. Neighboring Tip of the Week

"There he is!" she said as my son hopped out of the car in front of the school. I could hear the genuineness in her voice through my window as I watched a staff member pull him into a hug right there in the car line.

I drove away teary over this unsolicited example of a "there you are" mindset.

Perhaps you've heard the term.

"There you are" is attention focused outwards. It's a welcome anomaly in a world where we're overly consumed with ourselves. An others-focused mentality in a sea of "here I am." A moment of intentionality overriding our default preoccupation.

It stops you because it's so rare. Tells you, even without words, that you matter.

Links mentioned:

1. Get a FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days.
2. Read the written version of this episode HERE.
3. Neighboring Tip of the Week

I relate to the way the Israelites prayed. When something terrible happens, I want God to take it away. To make life go back to how it was. I expect God's rescue to look like reversal or extraction.

But threaded through this ancient story is a new way to pray.

Links mentioned:

1. Get a FREE, 5-Day Email Course: Turn Your Loneliness into Ripple-Effect Faith in 5 Days.
2. Read the written version of this episode HERE.
3. Neighboring Tip of the Week