Daly Focus Blog
First Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Life often gets in the way of our desire to connect with Jesus as our source of contentment and joy. We get busy raising children, investing in our marriages, and building our careers. We get distracted by technology and lost in tough circumstances. Life overwhelms us, and we disconnect from God.
Do you want to do something great, something that will change the world? The best way to achieve that may be to think small.
I remember a camping trip my family took many summers ago. We’d no sooner arrived at the campsite, when my boys leapt from the car and grabbed handfuls of rocks to throw into a nearby pond. My oldest son, Trent, muscled the largest stones he could find into the water. The bigger the splash, the bigger he wanted the next rock to be.
Most couples don’t realize how simple it can be to make a good marriage great. Or to infuse a struggling marriage with new life. To make your marriage better, give these three ideas a try.
The first idea is to avoid sarcasm. The word “sarcasm” means “to tear flesh.” Sarcasm strips a joke of its humor and replaces it with anger, resentment, and jealousy. There’s a thorn beneath the laugh that cuts people. Instead of sarcasm, season your words with love and respect.
At what age would you say children become adults? Sixteen? Eighteen? Twenty-one?
Answers among parents likely vary widely. Psychologist, author, and expert in adolescent and family relationships, Dr. Ken Wilgus, says adulthood isn’t a moment in time as much as a process of growth he calls “Progressive Emancipation.”
He encourages parents to think of their teenagers as adults in training. Teens, he says, are not big children; they are young adults. Around age 13, childhood comes to its natural end, but that doesn’t mean that your job as a parent is over.
My friend and former colleague, Tom Minnery, passed away unexpectedly on Christmas Eve.
Although now living in Ohio, Tom and his wife, Deb, were in New Mexico for Christmas with their family. Tom slipped on some ice and sustained a massive head injury. He entered Glory in the early evening.
Tom was a familiar voice to the Focus on the Family constituency, especially with his monthly column in Citizen Magazine, a periodical he helped launch in 1987, and which he served as editor-in-chief.
My friend Matt learned the hard way how important other people can be to our lives.
In college, he pulled into a convenience store, threw open the door, and ran inside for a quick purchase. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite get his Chevy into park. It clicked out of gear, rolled backwards into a pole, and bent Matt’s open door completely in the opposite direction.
Instead of asking someone for help, he pounded his door shut with a sledgehammer.
On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Celebrating Christmas As a Family,” we’re airing a recording of a conversation I had in the woods of West Monroe, Louisiana. That’s the location for the home and headquarters of the world-famous Robertson clan, otherwise known as Phil and Kay Robertson from A&E’s Duck Dynasty.
For five years and 130 episodes, the Robertsons invited viewers into their home and duck hunting business and introduced us to their zany family antics.
The war in Ukraine.
Starting a new school.
Staying home alone.
Fear of the dark.
Every child worries. It’s normal for children to feel anxious when navigating new experiences or processing difficult news. In fact, fear is a healthy response in some circumstances.
The goal is to teach children discernment and balance. A healthy fear of busy intersections or growling dogs is good. But feeling hindered, even crippled, by worry in everyday life is not.
On our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Helping Kids Navigate Worry in Healthy Ways,” we’re sharing practical advice for equipping your child to manage his or her fears.
This time of year, the world is alive with Christmas lights and decorations. But for people going through dark times, the Christmas season may not seem very merry or bright. If Christmas is hard for you this year, I want you to know that you’re not alone. The very first Christmas was also difficult for a lot of people.
Like Mary, Jesus’ mother. She’s often portrayed as an adult woman who was ready to begin a family.
A lot of women enter marriage expecting connection, conversation, and intimacy with their husbands. But when the intensity of that initial romance fades – as it always does – some wives begin to wonder, “Did I marry the wrong man?”
Dr. Juli Slattery’s answer to that question is: “The secret of intimacy in marriage is not finding a hero to be your husband but finding the hero in your husband.”
To achieve that, Dr. Slattery encourages women to understand a dynamic woven into every human relationship: relational power.
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.
