Key Bible Verse: That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed day after day (2 Corinthians 4:16). Bonus Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:17–5:12

I am convinced that we must find our own center, and that once we've found it all the chaos becomes irrelevant. That's easy to write, and so difficult to do. I also know that we can easily forget the truth of our center and fail to be true to it when we are tested. A Native American saying goes, "Where I stand is the center of the universe." I think this saying is about knowing yourself—first, and then gaining perspective on and understanding of what is truly important.

When I left my corporate life to try something different, a vice president came to me and asked, "Did you see the film Tender Mercies, starring Robert Duvall? Do you remember when the old man came up to him and asked, 'Didn't you used to be … ?'

"Robert Duvall said, 'That is who I am.'

"The old man then said, 'No, you're not.'" In the film, Robert Duvall was no longer the famous singer he had once been.

This vice president kept in touch with me. Several years later he said to me, "I want you to know that you are still you."

I think he had been trying to warn me: he'd seen too many people have no identity beyond the jobs they held.

My Response: One way I'm solidifying my identity outside the workplace is …

Thought to Apply: He who feels punctured must have once been a balloon.
—Chinese proverb