Daly Focus Blog
Would it surprise you if I suggested that one of the greatest risks to your marriage is loving your spouse too much?
It’s true – but with a twist.
Many of us will be attending weddings in the coming months. They’re beautiful affairs where we witness two individuals pledging their love and fidelity to each other. The happy couple leaves the ceremony and reception awash in advice and wise counsel, all centered on the challenge of fulfilling the marriage vows.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, husband, wife by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
Ten years ago, I was driving through Ladoga, Indiana, on my way home from Shades State Park. In the center of town, a road to the south curved temptingly out of sight. (Some men are attracted to the curves on a woman, but I prefer the curves on a road.) I turned south and five miles later entered the town of Roachdale, where I discovered the Roachdale Hardware Store and its proprietor, Charley Riggle.
I have returned to the hardware store once a week ever since and count Charley Riggle as one of my closest friends.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: friendship by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
When it comes to video games, Jean and I have a pretty simple and straightforward rule:
No guns, no blood, no bad language and, obviously, nothing that’s sexually suggestive.
So I know what some of you are probably thinking:
It’s still possible to purchase and play Pong?
Our boys actually play a very limited amount of games on Wii, usually sports-themed and always very innocuous in nature.
But we know parents who feel strongly that any type of video game is just a bad idea and a poor use of a child’s time.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: entertainment, kids, parenting, pop culture, technology by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
The late Norman Vincent Peale, senior pastor of New York City’s Marble Collegiate Church for over 50 years, grew up in Ohio, a preacher’s kid. His father, Clifford Peale, was a tremendously compassionate man. If there was a need within his congregation, he was determined to meet it.
Norman remembers the phone ringing in their parsonage one cold winter’s night. His mother answered, and passed the phone to his father. The woman on the other end of the line explained that she didn’t know any other preachers, but had one night slipped into Dr.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, parenting by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
According to the National Retail Federation, nearly $19 billion will be spent on moms this coming weekend. From flowers to cards to candy, a lot of people will dig deep into their wallets to try and express their love and appreciation for their mothers.
But according to a recent survey, it would appear that what many moms really want is something that money can’t buy:
They just want to go to church with the whole family.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, kids, parenting, wife by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
Finally being a mom on Mother’s Day was completely thrilling. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get there, and was deeply grateful for the grace and good doctors that saw me through tragedies on the way to that distinction.
Let the brunching begin!
But in the years to come I would try to create the ultimate Mom’s Day with fairly high expectations. Would it be a road trip with the kids? A day alone with a book?
Topics: Family and Home Tags: husband, parenting, wife by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
In a recent article in The Atlantic, writer Stephen Marche serves up a provocative perspective on the impact of Facebook and other social network software on society:
We live in an accelerating contradiction: the more connected we become, the lonelier we are.
In the opening lines of the lengthy piece, Marche describes the defining moment of Social Network, the film that chronicled Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s life and career.
The film’s most indelible scene, the one that may well have earned it an Oscar, was the final, silent shot of an anomic Zuckerberg sending out a friend request to his ex-girlfriend, then waiting and clicking and waiting and clicking—a moment of superconnected loneliness preserved in amber.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: friendship, technology by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
When was the last time you read Dale Carnegie’s classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People? Although it’s sprinkled with time-dated illustrations, its core messages are timeless. For example, consider the following excerpt on how to correct a person without unduly offending them. As a husband and father, this lesson has broad reaching application:
Charles Schwab was passing through one of his steel mills one day at noon when he came across some of his employees smoking.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, friendship by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
It’s been nearly two weeks since our dear friend and the founder of Prison Fellowship, Chuck Colson, received his eternal reward. It was announced recently that a public memorial in his honor will be held at the National Cathedral on May 16th. It will be a privilege to attend and collectively thank the Lord for the life of this good man.
As some of you may know, Chuck loved movies. He saw them as a wonderful way to communicate truth and the many characteristics of our loving and all-powerful God.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: entertainment, faith, pop culture by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
A colleague’s son snapped a picture of this billboard the other day. He sent it to his father, along with the following three-word message:
“Love you, Dad.”
“I wonder what was on his heart,” his father wrote.
I think I have an idea. The teenager is growing up and doesn’t just see life from his own perspective anymore.
That’s a sign of maturity. That’s a sign that the boy is becoming a man.
How does this billboard strike you?
Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, parenting by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.Home
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