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What's up everybody? Welcome to another special bonus episode of my podcast the Matthew West podcast. It's me Matthew West your host. And as always, I really hope you like it. I've been coming to you every Friday, not just every Wednesday, but every Friday now for just a quick little devotional and these are inspired by my own personal quiet time had a song out on the radio this past year called what if and it seemed to fire a lot of you guys.

And so you know, I when I write a song, I feel like it's not just a message for one moment in time, although that there might be a moment where a brighter light is is, you know, shining down on the song, but man, as I was turning the quarter towards 2022, I thought this message of know what ifs, man, this is firing me up as I begin a new year. These last couple years, we've been reminded that life is brief. We don't want to take a single second for granted, right?

Like the old Tim McGraw song like live like you were dying and this song says, you know, I heard him say before to live just like you're dying. Wish I could say that's how I am, but I'd be lying.

Well, I want that to be honestly said of me. I want to get to the end of my race and I know you do too. And you want to say that you, you, you left it all on the field as my high school coach used to say, right?

No regrets, no one is. So thanks for joining me. We're going to dive in to today's devotional. We're going to talk about what it looks like to love a little harder. Here goes.

Jim Carrey, one of the richest and most successful actors in the world said, I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.

Wow, those are some pretty sobering and serious words spoken from someone who's been at the top of the mountain in every way and is reporting back to us that it's not all that's cracked up to be. How about that?

You know, what the world promises will make us happy will actually leave us feeling empty. That's what Jim Carrey was saying there.

I wrote a line in the song, what if that cut to the core of my biggest fear? It says this. My biggest fear is waking up to find what matters is miles away from what I spent my life chasing after is my story going to have the same two words in every chapter. What if?

What if those words haunt me, but in the best kind of way, you know, some what ifs. They're not bad because some what ifs can be used for the purpose of self examination, taking inventory of how we're living our lives and whether our priorities are lining up the way God.

Intended. It's being brave enough to ask the question, what if something needs to change looking at our relationship with the Lord, our relationship with our possessions and pursuits, our relationships with the people around us, right?

The people around us. If you were to ask me what my priorities are, I would say God above all else than family, then everything else falls after that. But do my actions line up with that?

Do I spend my time on a daily basis in a way that backs that up? How about how I spend my money? Is anybody else thinking out? I can't help but think about my wife, Emily and my daughters Lulu and Delaney when I talk about this kind of thing.

Why is it that the ones we are closest to are the ones we tend to hurt the most appreciate the least take for granted most often? Or maybe that's just me. I don't know.

Well, I hope it's not just me. I've heard it said that you define what is important to you by what you dedicate your time to. So what's the answer to that question for you? Have you heard about the theory of 10,000 hours? It's basically the idea that for anyone to become great at anything, it's been said that you've got to put in your 10,000 hours of practice to master something.

But we always associate that to career pursuits when the same could be said for our relationships. And I can be sad when I feel like my relationship with my daughter isn't as close as I wanted to be.

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