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How to Teach Your Child to Love

This being the “Love Month” the topic of love is worthy of discussion … even in a parenting article. In fact, teaching children the proper understanding of love might be one of the most neglected areas of parenting. And, that neglect might be very damaging for a child’s future success in life. At first glance it sounds very worldly to challenge a parent to raise a child to “be a great lover.” But should we let our children gain this expertise by encouraging them to watch television shows like The Bachelor or The Bachelorette? This is what the world around […]

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What’s Love Got to Do With It?

February is the month of love. There are more songs written about love (or the lack of love) than any other subject on the planet. In the 1980’s, Tina Turner sung, “What’s Love Got to Do With it?” That is a very good question. The celebration of love on Valentine’s day is typically seen as a “couple’s” holiday. We express our love for another person by giving them cards, candy, flowers, candy hearts, taking them out to dinner or maybe just staying home and cooking them a nice meal. When we think about love and who we love, most of […]

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Stop, Look And Listen = You Matter

Whether you’re talking to a child, a co-worker or the love of your life, when we stop, look and listen to them, we’re giving them our full attention, which says YOU MATTER! All three actions are keys to having meaningful, connected conversations which in turn leads to significant, connected relationships.   What does it mean to stop? Stop means purposefully ending whatever you’re doing to give someone undivided attention. Close the laptop, lay down the phone, put it on silent, remove the earbuds, stop folding the clothes and turn off the television. STOP means to remove yourself from anything that […]

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Maintain And RECL(AIM) Your Relationships

(Scroll down to leave a comment on how you maintain your relationships) The Christmas season is over, and the challenge of mastering our New Year Resolutions is upon us. Every year I take some time to reflect on the previous year; my accomplishments, failures, and all that I have to be thankful for. Then I begin my list of aspirations for the coming year. What do I want to accomplish, what do I want to do differently, what new leaf will I turn over, and what do I want to continue? Without fail, every year the same three things make […]

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Be Refreshingly Uncommon

My dad told me a long time ago, “Find out what everybody else is doing and don’t do it.” I have found this little bit of advice to be beneficial at times. As a pastor sometimes I observe other pastors and preachers and I read about church leadership, church growth, vision-casting and fundraising, and I do the exact opposite. Be refreshingly uncommon at times. For example, my wife and I see a marriage counselor and have no problem sharing that publicly. How can I counsel couples on the importance of checking in with a counselor when I’m not willing to […]

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Use Those “Time Eating” Christmas Gifts to Teach

We often receive questions asking about all forms of video games. Parents of the past would ask, “Don’t these video games become addictive and cause kids to waste many precious hours of time? We bought a Play Station for our kids for Christmas, but I’m considering taking it back. I’m also thinking we should not have these temptations in our home.” In today’s day and age not only is it Play Station, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, there is constant access to gaming on their phones as well.   Content It is not necessarily the electronic device that is the problem. There […]

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The Origin of My Best Christmas

All of my life Christmas has been one of the most exciting times of the year. Beginning with intense expectancy on Christmas Eve, I anxiously awaited the gifts I would receive from my wonderfully, overindulgent parents. This excitement carried over to Christmas morning when I would open my presents. But these emotions always subsided shortly after the unwrapping of the gifts. My parents always gave me the presents I asked for. But, after we cleaned up the paper wrappings, ribbons and boxes, we all went back to business as usual. Somehow I knew there just had to be more! While […]

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Give the Gift of Love

My eyes still well up in tears every Christmas as I watch the end of the Christmas classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” George Bailey has just realized how precious life is, what a beautiful family he has, and then the bank president and local police come to arrest him. That’s when the magic happens! George’s friends, neighbors, and all the people he helped through the years come to his aid. Baskets of money are emptied on the table, people are taking coins out of their change purses, and an entire community rallies around to remind us what is possible when […]

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Are You in Reactive or Proactive Mode?

New Year’s resolutions can often last into early February, but intentional planning can make a huge difference. Here are some tips for you to be a more effective person and leader in 2020. Next year is going to be so great, in part, because you took some time to think through a simple personal plan for yourself and your family. Spontaneity is great, but so too, is having some sort of relationship/family plan. Good leaders make good plans that give others a real sense of purpose and accomplishment. If you asked a son, daughter or spouse what the family wants […]

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Gratitude Is Taught

Have your kids caught the virus? It’s the most contagious and one of the most dangerous viruses a person can catch and it is “heir” born. Most of our culture has it. Are your kids negative and ungrateful? Some of that is because they’re still children. Much of it is because they are very impressionable. It doesn’t take much to cave into the impressions this culture leaves that more is better. Gratitude is necessary They can catch it from the culture, but they can also learn it from their parents. Ingratitude is caught in a home where gratitude isn’t taught. […]

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