Well, good morning, my friends, and welcome to the Live Inspired podcast with John O'Leary.

I record these so that you and I can begin our days and our weeks in awe and on fire with a burst of inspiration. I'm recording this one from

Utah. It's beautiful outside. You're going to hear a little bit of wind in the background,

a little bit of noise as the leaves wrestle. But mostly what I hope you hear is the possibility

that is alive and well in your life to be, to do, to achieve, to serve in mighty ways going forward.

One way to do exactly that is to understand the difference between the words, I have to, and the words, I want to.

M. Scott Peck reminds us that we do not have to love.

We choose to love.

You know, it turns out that there is a significant gap

between living from a place where we feel obligated to perform

and living with a mindset of view service as an opportunity.

I was reminded of this through the simple action and words

of my wife. She's going to hate me for sharing this story, but here we go. Let me explain. It was

early in the morning and I was exhausted for getting home at 2 a.m. from a delayed flight. There's

been a few of those in the news lately. It was like grogly reached for a towel after a shower.. from a delayed flight. There's been a few of those in the news lately. As I grogly reached for a towel

after a shower, I noticed a simple note that read, I love you. And the next to the note was a mug of hot

coffee on the bathroom sink. My wife, Beth, who does not even drink coffee, made a pot,

poured a cup, ran up a flat of steps, and placed it in a spot that I could not miss it.

Now, for her, mourning is hectic too.

She had four little ones to get up, lunches to prepare, backpacks, to check kids to get out the door and a work meeting to attend.

In other words, with a million things happening that morning in her life, she did not need to put one more thing on her list to do for anybody else. So I dress quickly, danced down the steps.

I kissed my four little babies and then their mom. And then I thanked Beth for her thoughtfulness.

...