A gentle breeze ruffled the surface of the lake as I wandered along the shore line, eyes to the ground. Oh, there’s a good one! I picked up a smooth, round, grey stone and put it in a container. By the time I was done collecting rocks, I had a small bucketful. I’m not a rock hound, nor did I need more stones for the landscaping in our yard. So why was I collecting rocks on a mountain lake shore during our summer vacation? I wanted to work on developing gratitude in my life—and you can use this same method for your whole family. My “gratitude craft” involved the rocks I’d Continue Reading
4 Reasons to Stop Suppressing Your Tears
On Memorial Day weekend years ago, our family watched a special TV show, a moving tribute to American war veterans. I don’t remember many details about what was said, but I remember seeing my husband weep—and I remember noticing how our teenage sons took their cues from their father’s response. They heard a powerful, unspoken message that day. Real men cry. I felt kind of heartless for not weeping myself that day, but I’ve been guilty of suppressing tears lots of times. I’ll bet you have been, too. That’s because our culture tells us a lot of nonsense about emotions, Continue Reading
Why Fear-Based Parenting is a Terrible Idea
Late one evening when our kids were young, I was heading for bed when I noticed a piece of paper propped against the pillows. It was a note to Scott and me from the oldest of our three sons, then thirteen. Danny was going through a bit of a rough patch. Just when he needed to gain a greater measure of independence and self-awareness, he’d developed a close friendship with a boy whose home life included episodes of domestic violence. This boy was acting out, exhibiting negative habits of rebellion and foolishness which concerned us due to the influence his behavior had on Continue Reading
Why You can Trust the Bible
I recently read a story about a family searching for a new church home in the city to which they had relocated. In the process of decision-making, they attended a particular church just as Easter approached. Everything seemed fine—until the minister said it didn’t really matter whether or not Jesus was raised from the dead. Whereas orthodox Christianity teaches the Bible is a collection of inspired books which God preserved in order to reveal himself to man, liberalism treats the Bible as a collection of books which we are free to interpret as we wish. This is problematic, because Continue Reading