Family and Home Archives

Five Types of Weekend Warriors

Do you have a home improvement project planned for this weekend?

When it comes to fixing or building things around the house, the late writer, Andy Rooney, once identified five categories of people.

Which one best describes you?

1. The person who knows how to do it, and proceeds quietly and efficiently to get the job done right, alone. This is a rare species.

2. The helpless. This person can’t do it, won’t try to do it, and has no interest in learning how.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, husband, marriage, wife September 21, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Check Your Motives

Sometimes we might do what’s right—but for the wrong (usually selfish) reason.

I’m reminded of the story of the philosopher Diogenes.

He was once seen sitting on a curb eating lentils and bread, a meager meal by any standard. A fellow philosopher, Aristippus, a man who lived well because he flattered the king, approached him and mocked his circumstance.

“If you would learn to be subservient to the king,” he snarled, “you would not have to live on lentils.”

Diogenes looked up with a smile, tilted his head, and replied, “Learn to live on lentils, and you will not have to cultivate the king.”

Topics: Family and Home Tags: discipline, faith, relationships September 19, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Strangest Secret

Over sixty years ago, Earl Nightingale, a former United States Marine who had been one of only twelve survivors of the bombing of the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor, struck upon an idea.

At the time of his epiphany, he was an announcer at the legendary Chicago radio station WGN. Residents of the Windy City were drawn to his soothing, sonorous voice. But it was off the air, while reading a book by Napoleon Hill, a well-known motivational writer and speaker of that era, that Nightingale’s revelation came to him, like “a bolt out of the blue,” he said.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: discipline, faith, relationships September 17, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

One Consequence of Same-Sex Marriage

By the end of this month it’s likely to be legal for children in California to have three parents.

As of now, the state’s current law only allows two parents per child, which is both the historical standard and the common sense one.

So why aren’t two enough anymore?

Same-sex marriage.

Children of lesbian couples may have two “mothers,” but it’s obviously impossible for a child to be conceived without a father. The same is true for homosexual men; every child is born of a mother, even if the male couple deems her simply utilitarian in nature.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, homosexuality, kids, parenting September 13, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

A Child’s Ten Commandments to Parents

1. My hands are small; please don’t expect perfection whenever I make a bed, draw a picture, or throw a ball. My legs are short; please slow down so that I can keep up with you.

2. My eyes have not seen the world as yours have; please let me explore safely: don’t restrict me unnecessarily.

3. Housework will always be there. I’m only little such a short time—please take time to explain things to me about this wonderful world, and do so willingly.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids, parenting September 9, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Miserable Christians

It surprises me when many Christians engage in work to redeem the culture with a somber, morose, and even anxious spirit. I don’t pretend to be smarter or more spiritually mature than anyone else, but this particular attitude is curious and even a bit contradictory.

Have you ever encountered this from time to time?

A dear friend of mine who is a pastor once preached on an uplifting text of Scripture. He spoke of God’s sovereignty and perfect will, of His love and goodness and graciousness.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, pastors September 4, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Photo: Why We’ll Never Tire Defending the Defenseless

This is what you looked like at just 12 weeks in the womb:

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, policy, pro-life August 30, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Urban Meyer’s Contract with His Family

Urban Meyer will take the field on Saturday for his first game as head football coach of Ohio State.

In many ways, the 48-year-old will be coming full circle, both personally and professionally.

Born in Toledo, Meyer met his wife, Shelley, while attending the University of Cincinnati. He was hired as an assistant coach at Ohio State in 1986 and earned a master’s degree at the school prior to his departure for another coaching position with Illinois State.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, family, kids, marriage, parenting August 29, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

5 Ways to Strengthen Your Marriage

Terri Orbuch is a psychologist and research professor at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. She recently identified some of the top common regrets of divorced couples.

“Divorced individuals who step back and say, ‘This is what I’ve done wrong and this is what I will change,’ have something powerful to teach others,” she recently told the Wall Street Journal.

Here are five things divorced couples regret not having done more of with a few comments of my own:

Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, intimacy, marriage, wife August 28, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Have a Quiet Child? Here are Three Things You Must Do

Susan Cain is the best-selling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. A popular lecturer, the Harvard-trained lawyer offers terrific insight and advice for everybody in her book, but especially for parents who have “quiet”- tempered children:

“The best thing parents and teachers can do for introverted kids,” she writes, “is to treasure them for who they are, and encourage their passions.”

Here are three things she recommends parents do:

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, parenting, relationships August 21, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura