Resolve to Count your Blessings

Lisa May
11 Jan 2023
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blessing

For the last two years, I’ve started the year with something to commit to for the coming year. Every year many of us make New Year’s Resolutions, and we make a list of goals for the year. We’ve already started in my family with a goal to do something we’ve never done in South Florida once a month as a family. The girls are thinking of going to Peanut Island, Flamingo Gardens, or a restaurant we’ve yet to visit. The guys are thinking along the lines of axe throwing and a shooting range. These are our family goals. So, what’s […]

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A Good Conversation

Lisa May
8 Dec 2022
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Over the years, I’ve cherished the robust and sometimes rowdy conversations between family and friends during the holidays. Whether it’s about religion, politics, sports, or who won the card game, it’s lively and sometimes rather intense. Like many of your families, my family is full of strong opinions, and everyone is eager to share. Sometimes the conversations are fascinating because we learn so much about each other’s passions, and other times they become an ouch! The difference between a good conversation and an OUCH is whether or not we’re respectfully speaking AND generously listening. Meaningful relationships are born through meaningful […]

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conversation

Living Legacies of Thankfulness and Faith

Lisa May
10 Nov 2022
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living

“Circle of Life” is a song from Disney’s 1994 animated film The Lion King. It’s the story of Mufasa, king of the Pride Lands and the father of Simba. During his reign, Mufasa was killed by his envious brother Scar. Mufasa taught his son Simba how past kings lived in the stars and would always be there to guide him in times of need. Despite his death, Mufasa endures in the memories of his loved ones. We can all see Mufasa sitting on the top of the mountain overlooking the kingdom as Elton John is singing the following lyrics.   […]

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Living Our Vows

Lisa May
12 Sep 2022
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My immediate family has our first wedding. My daughter and her husband, yes, her husband, were married last year at the courthouse before moving to New York City. Because of COVID, no one was allowed to go with them; they were pronounced legally married, not husband and wife. Our immediate family and close friend, Bill Davell, stood outside the courthouse, threw flowers, hugged, and went home for a family dinner. In December, they will have a second wedding in a church reciting their vows before God, family, and friends. As we all know, it’s an exciting time with lots of […]

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vows

Marriage is Like Hiking

Lisa May
10 Aug 2022
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marriage

The Live the Life South Florida team had the blessing of attending the National Alliance for Marriage & Relationship Education conference in Utah a few weeks ago. Most of us went a few days early to take in some sights. Unbeknownst to most of you, I have a sense of adventure, so when someone offers that opportunity, I’m usually game! My daughter Amanda always looks for fun and the once-in-a-lifetime activity when traveling, so she researched and said, “We have to go to Sundance and hike to Stewart Falls.” My only question was how difficult it was, and her answer […]

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Is the Destruction of our Families Fostering Mental Illness?

Lisa May
6 Jul 2022
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In the light of current events, our entire country is collectively moving through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and inevitably for some, acceptance. While the motivating factors are different, the overarching question resounds in the same outcry: WHY? Why must the innocent, our children, be the object of suffering and hatred? When we blow away the chaff, what’s left is the family or the lack thereof.  What defines families? While the world defines family in many ways, the Biblical definition has remained the same: two parents, a father and a mother, guiding children through childhood, adolescence […]

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mental

The Merciful and The Mighty

Lisa May
15 Jun 2022
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Dr. Murray Bowen introduced the family system theory, suggesting that individuals can’t be understood in isolation from one another but rather as a part of their family. According to Bowen, a family is an emotional system in which each member has a role to play and rules to respect. Members of the system are expected to respond to each other in a certain way according to their position. Parental Roles, Merciful and Mighty Every family has a cast of characters with colorful personalities and stories. They matter; we see glimpses of ourselves in them, our talents, tendencies and some of […]

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Love Well by Meeting the Need

Lisa May
3 May 2022
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God created us for an intimate relationship with Him and others. We are born with biological needs for bonding and closeness. We’re physically needy. We need food, clothing, water and shelter to survive. We’re spiritually needy. Man needs communion with God and freedom from guilt and shame; we need forgiveness, mercy and grace. We’re also emotionally and relationally needy. We need a relationship with God and others. We’re intellectually needy; we’re born with intellectual capacity, but we need instruction and information.  Unaware, many of our deepest and most potent desires are wrapped up in our desire to have our needs […]

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need

To Forgive Is to Obey

Lisa May
7 Apr 2022
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forgive

This year I’ve chosen to read the New Testament chronologically. Initially, I didn’t enjoy the process, but as I’ve read the gospel accounts leading up to Jesus’ death on the cross, I’ve thought a lot about obedience and its connection to forgiveness. Jesus, in His humanity, has experienced the hurts and betrayals of humankind, and in His humanness, He prayed and asked God to let the cup of suffering pass. Knowing He was God made man, being fully aware of the agony he’d experience, He still chose to humble himself and yield to the will of God. He had a […]

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The Good News Is Still The Good News

Lisa May
8 Mar 2022
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I recently spoke with a counselor about the pressure the pandemic has brought to bear; his practice has ministered to more than 30,000 people since COVID. Working remotely, fewer family gatherings, less time with our various community groups combined with death and fear have been harrowing and traumatic circumstances to everyone. The positive has been that the open conversation about our mental health and emotional well-being has been destigmatized. What was once spoken about in a private, inner circle-only conversation is on all the newsstands and airways with global celebrities such as Olympian Simon Biles and Michael Phelps speaking out.  […]

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