Daly Focus Blog
Have you ever:
Regretted something you said to your child in the heat of a conflict?
Or wished you’d spoken in a different tone?
Or repeated for the hundredth time this month, “Why don’t you listen to me?” or “When will you ever learn?”
We parents are busy, stressed, and pulled in a lot of directions and don’t always handle circumstances in just the right way.
According to authors Amber Lia and Wendy Speake, these stumbles occur because we’re not intentional about how we respond in a crisis.
It’s often easier to tell your spouse, “I love you,” than to show them through your actions.
I can tell you that’s true not only from personal experience but from the sheer number of questions we get here at Focus on the Family from married couples about navigating busy schedules, financial issues, and communication and conflict. Each question represents a small everyday moment that somehow turned into a disruption to the couple’s marital unity.
Authors Matt and Lisa Jacobson are with me on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly to encourage husbands and wives to serve and love each other well.
Every day Focus on the Family hears from good people who have faced difficult, even tragic, life circumstances, people who feel haunted by disturbing memories and who endure life with a sense of agony and desperation.
According to statistics, more people today are exposed to traumatic circumstances than past generations:
Over two-thirds of people experience a traumatic event by the age of 16 years old.
More than 70% of people report experiencing at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.
Life is busy. For everybody. We spend so much time away from our homes that we never meet our neighbors. We pull into our garages and close the door behind us. That’s too bad because life is better when it’s lived in community.
A lovely example of that went viral on social media. It featured 87-year-old Doug Turner, a widower, who rang his neighbor Michelle’s doorbell one winter morning. She had only lived in the neighborhood for a few months, but she recognized Mr.
My wife, Jean, is the living embodiment of Proverbs 16:24, which says, “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” Every time I call her on the phone, she answers with a delightful tone that lets me know she’s glad to hear from me. She reminds me that I’m loved and encourages me when I’m having a stressful day. Her positivity blesses me.
It’s not easy to speak words of blessing if we weren’t taught how growing up.
According to a newly released memorandum from the United States Office of Personnel Management, government employees do not lose their First Amendment rights when they begin their work for Uncle Sam each day.
Scott Kupor, who serves as director of the agency, offered long overdue clarity in the document, especially given some of the hostility that Christians have encountered on the job during the previous administration.
“The Federal workforce should be a welcoming place for Federal employees who practice a religious faith,” wrote Director Kupor.
You and your spouse don’t always see eye to eye. One of you talks too much – or not enough. One of you feels hot while the other is shivering cold. And one of you is probably a saver while the other is a spender.
Those differences – especially the last one – can drive you apart. Petty disagreements about money can easily turn into full-grown battles that bleed a relationship dry.
Well-known author, radio host, and financial expert Dave Ramsey is my guest on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.
When Kim Meeder was a child, she considered her father something of a superhero. He didn’t wear a cape, fly, or leap tall buildings, but there wasn’t much else she felt he couldn’t do. As for her mother, she was the most beautiful and loving woman in the world, and Kim wanted to grow up to be just like her.
But when Kim was nine years old, she lost both her mom and dad in a horrific tragedy that shattered her heart.
Let me ask you a simple question with a complex answer: Are human beings only biological machines? Or is there something more to us, something that transcends mere flesh and blood?
Questions like that have challenged humanity for centuries, partly because we like to explain our world in clear-cut terms. We like things to be either all black or all white. No gray. But human life can’t be defined so easily. Each of us has a physical body, but we have a spiritual side as well.
I love summer. When my boys were younger, that meant camping with my family. We loved getting outdoors and parking our fifth wheel in some remote location where the sounds of nature aren’t drowned out by cars and busyness.
When there was a lake nearby, the first thing my boys would do is grab rocks to throw into the water. The bigger the better. For them, it was all about the splash. Me? I was intrigued by the ripples.
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.
