Relationships

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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Good News Wants to Know… – What are the best and worst purchases you’ve ever made?

The Good News
13 Dec 2022
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As we approach the holidays, many of us are in search of the perfect gifts to buy for our loved ones. Good News Wants to Know… What are the best and worst purchases you’ve ever made? “Caveat Emptor,” which means “buyer beware.” I don’t know about you, but I have had to learn this lesson several times. There she was on the cover of the magazine, a beautiful doll which would be a perfect birthday gift for our granddaughter. The purchase was made, the delivery date was given and so we waited. Upon arrival and to our disappointment, the doll did not […]

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purchases

A Good Conversation

Lisa May
8 Dec 2022
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conversation

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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Living Legacies of Thankfulness and Faith

Lisa May
10 Nov 2022
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“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

Followership

Patricia L. Colangelo, EdS
7 Nov 2022
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followership

Aristotle said, “He who cannot be a good follower, cannot be a good leader.” As Christians we claim to be followers of Christ. But how do we carry that out in our daily lives at home, work, church or within any group situation?   What is Followership? Followership is how we perform in the workplace, church and personal lives. As we look at the different types of followership, we can identify ourselves and others by behaviors. When I first heard of learning about followership, the first thought I had was this was simple for Christians, after all, are not all […]

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Did you ever have one of those times when something started out terribly and ended up absolutely great?! 

The Good News
21 Sep 2022
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Good News Wants to Know….Did you ever have one of those years, months, weekends, nights, days when something started out so terribly and ended up absolutely great?!  In 2020 a massive wildfire started in Santa Rosa Beach, FL, and was spreading rapidly throughout the area. We rushed out of our home with only a single bag per person and piled into our SUV. As word got to our church family of the danger, a prayer chain began among the members while staff simultaneously leaped to action securing temporary housing for our family. The wildfire, after destroying multiple neighborhoods, stopped right at […]

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great

Living Our Vows

Lisa May
12 Sep 2022
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vows

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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Marriage is Like Hiking

Lisa May
10 Aug 2022
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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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marriage

Is the Destruction of our Families Fostering Mental Illness?

Lisa May
6 Jul 2022
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mental

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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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