Family and Home Archives

Helping Your Kids Identify Their Strengths

There are two approaches to parenting:

See your child’s mistakes as problems to fix.Understand the “why” behind your child’s behavior to help your child harness their strengths and channel them in positive directions.

The second of those is a strengths-based parenting approach that encourages parents to move beyond the negative (fixing problems or worrying about how poorly the child’s behavior reflects on the parent) and instead parent from positivity: helping your children discover their God-given talent and become the person He created them to be.

Topics: Family and Home October 21, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Fake vs Real Relationship

A lot of things in your home are probably fake. And that’s okay. Just don’t let your relationships fall into that category.

Home construction technology has come a long way. In the early 1900s, wood floors made from real trees were standard to home construction. These days, everything from flooring to furniture to back decks are made from composites that only look like real wood. And the fakery doesn’t stop there. We’re surrounded by veneers, synthetics, and man-made stone.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family October 21, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Never Too Early for Christmas Music

Although Halloween is still ahead of us, Christmas music may already be playing at your local stores. Some say October is too early, but I love it … because, for me, the music of Christmas conveys the message of Christmas.

Christmas is about hope – something we’re all searching for. C.S. Lewis turned Christmas into a powerful metaphor in his classic novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In the story, a little girl named Lucy stumbles into the wintry land of Narnia through a magic wardrobe.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith October 20, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Living Joyously

David Ring often says, “I have cerebral palsy. What’s your problem?” In other words, we all face problems of one kind or another. We can choose to be defeated by adversity, or we can live victoriously in Christ.

David developed cerebral palsy after not receiving enough oxygen at birth. Throughout his life, he endured excruciating pain, physical struggles, and constant public humiliation. Orphaned at age 14 when both of his parents died of cancer, David was cast about from family to family with nowhere to call home.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith October 19, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Bless This Mess

It’s amazing what you can learn about yourself when life gets messy.

My son Troy and I were once on a camping trip, filled with horse rides and hikes through the woods. But one night, just as we were about to hit the sack, I noticed Troy looking a little green. When I asked him how he felt, he said, “Not so good.”

That was just the beginning. Later, at about two in the morning, I awoke to the sound of Trent retching.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith October 19, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

In Our Relationships, Reach for the Things Money Will Never Buy

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly writes:

Have you ever noticed that the more you have, the more you want – and that the never-ending grasp for things beyond your reach is not only making you miserable, but also hurting your relationships with the people closest to you?

That’s the conclusion of a new study, “Money Over Marriage,” that finds materialism is behind so much of the relationship tension we experience – and cheapening the very sacred institution itself.

I read an analysis of the research findings this past weekend, which dipped into some of the higher-profile cases that make headlines, such as the reported tension inside NFL’s Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen’s marriage.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: marriage October 17, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Getting Along with Strong-Willed People

Author Cynthia Tobias humorously says that every strong-willed person lives according to the same motto: “I’m not bossy. I just know what you need to do.”

She didn’t always consider it a joke. In fact, it used to cause her trouble. Like an incident that occurred while she was working in law enforcement. She was working alone and pulled a guy over running a red light. Before she got to his door, he had rolled down his window and was yelling at her, “You can’t give me a ticket.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith October 14, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Like the Stars in the Sky

I’m not sure what’s more astonishing: the magnificence of the universe … or our ability to be oblivious to it. I mean, when was the last time you thought about the sun? Except for deciding whether to grab a jacket, you probably don’t.

Did you know that the sun is so large that you can fit 1.3 million earths inside of it. The sun doesn’t seem that big because it’s 93 million miles away from us.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith October 14, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Moral Realignment

Albert Einstein once said, “Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity … and I’m not sure about the universe.”

Einstein’s pessimism about humanity was well-founded. We see ourselves as sophisticated, intelligent, and basically good at heart. And yet the history of the world is a devastating indictment to the contrary. Humanity’s potential for brutality and evil is astonishing.

Secular thinkers explain our potential for evil as some ancient evolutionary mechanism we can’t shake.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith October 13, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

God’s Light Amidst Grief’s Shadow

One of the hardest things about life on this side of eternity is unexpected trauma. We can be blindsided by a terrible accident, a frightening diagnosis, or any number of unforeseen circumstances, experiences that can shake our faith.

All of us have pondered the question of why bad things happen to good people, including those of us who seek to serve a good God. Answers to that question and others are messy and difficult by definition.