Helping People of Faith Find More Joy in Their Relationships
Being critical of others will humble us when we better understand why people do what they do.
I was reminded of this in a humbling moment a few weeks ago. I discovered a robin building her nest ON TOP of a birdhouse I had put up for my feathered friend’s convenience.
A nest not IN the birdhouse, but ON TOP of it. [Read more…] about Being Critical of Others Will Humble Us
Dads spark joy when they create memories for their family. It’s one of the great privileges of fatherhood. If you’re a dad, it’s what they’ll talk about at your funeral.
I saw a memory created by four fathers working together on a recent Monday. Let me set the context first. No one can remember exactly when the memory happened for the first time. But I have photos of it from six years ago, and by then it had been going for several years. [Read more…] about Dads Spark Joy When They Create Memories
How to celebrate Father's Day in 2020 is different this year due to Covid-19. I saw it on the face of a father talking about his son graduating from high school. It’s a good news/bad story. I’ll start with the bad news, which as you’ll see at the end, is part of the good news.
The other day I was taking my usual morning walk around the neighborhood. It was one of my daily It’s Amazing Out There walks I wrote about in last week’s blog post. I came across a man I had never met who appeared to be getting ready for an event at his house. There was a small “Congratulations Graduate 2020” sign stuck in the lawn near the end of his driveway, together with balloons and a container of sidewalk chalk.
“Are you having a graduation party today?” I asked.
“No. We’re just having neighbors over to congratulate my son by writing something on our driveway. We all built our homes together about the same time years ago, and he grew up with these people,” he said. [Read more…] about How to Celebrate Father's Day in 2020
Cross-cultural relationship encounters enrich our lives when we least expect it. I had one the other evening, even though it happened in the context of a disappointing change in attitude from a trusted friend.
It used to be before I walked out the door for a brisk early morning walk I would check the Weather Channel app on my phone. Each morning, no matter how sunny, rainy, hot, snowy, cold, blustery, or calm the day, the Weather Channel would greet me with “It’s amazing out there.”
I loved her optimism. It was just what I needed to get moving. To experience this amazement though, I had to first get “out there.” And that’s the challenge because [Read more…] about It's Still Amazing Out There
I’m chomping at the bit for the start of season 3 of our You Were Made for This podcast. Only 7 more days to January 22 when we’re back on the air!
But in the meantime, I recently experienced an example of Colossians 3:12 (…clothe yourself with…kindness) I want to tell you about. Hopefully it inspires you as it did me. It all happened in the dark before sunrise. [Read more…] about Kindness before dawn
One of the things I would like to do less of this year is stop answering every “How are you?” question with “Fine.”
Fine is a perfectly fine response to the 17-year-old barista at Starbucks, or to the bored-to-tears checkout clerk at Target. They’re complete strangers, and are just trying to make it to the end of their shift. Fine is an appropriate answer for them. Fine, how are YOU doing is a little better.
But to people closer to me, I would like to come up with a more honest answer. [Read more…] about Trying to stop this in 2020
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