Daly Focus Blog
One million. It’s a big number. But on today of all days, that number takes on even greater value and significance.
That’s because today is Memorial Day, the day we remember over one million Americans who have died in war on behalf of us all.
That figure is astounding by itself. But it’s even more sobering when you reflect on this: behind every number is a name, and behind every name is a family whose entire world changed forever because that soldier didn’t come home.
What are you afraid of?
A lot of us were scared of the dark when we were little. There’s something about the lights going out that transforms ordinary shadows into dreadful monsters.
Years later, we still have our monsters, don’t we? Relational problems. Health crises. Significant life changes that are beyond our control. They’re more sophisticated than the creepy things we feared hid under our bed as children, but they haunt us just the same.
Back when you were a kid, you probably hid from your fears by pulling the blankets a little tighter.
Most people enter marriage with high expectations. They dream of long walks through the neighborhood every night and long walks along the beach in the summer. Every day will be romantic and exciting.
But somewhere between “I do” and “happily ever after” daily life settles into a predictable routine. And by “predictable” I mean “mundane” – dare I even say “boring.” Before long, discontentment kicks in, and we’re living in what I call the “when’s” and “if only’s” of life.
“What were you thinking?”
If you’re a parent of teenagers, you’ve probably asked that question a few times. I know I have. On more than one occasion, Jean and I have looked at each other and asked the same question about one of our boys: “What is going on in that brain of his?”
Well, according to Dr. Jeramy and Jerusha Clark, our guests on today’s and tomorrow’s broadcasts, there’s an avalanche of change going on.
You remember Clark Kent. He was a mild-mannered man … until he pulled open his shirt and revealed the superhero outfit underneath that announced his true identity. He was Superman, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Dads don’t wear a superhero’s outfit under their clothes, but don’t let that fool you. They have true heroic power. Their mere presence can have a dramatic influence in the lives of their children.
“We were doing all the right things. We knew each other’s love languages. We went on date nights. We spent time away, just the two of us. We thought we were doing all the right things and yet, infidelity became a part of our story. That’s when we realized it wasn’t a lack of big things that were robbing us of intimacy. It was all the deeper emotions under the surface that went undiscussed that pulled our hearts away from each other one centimeter at a time.”
That’s how Mark and Jill Savage describe their marriage’s slow descent into a dark abyss of infidelity and near-divorce.
The call to forgive others lies at the heart of the Christian message.
But that doesn’t make it easy.
Forgiveness is tough. The human heart is wired for justice. When somebody sins against us, the hurt we feel is a cry for wrongs to be made right again. And when they can’t be, we often want the other person to suffer in some way that will help us feel that the debt has been satisfied. At least, we tell ourselves this is true.
It’s never been easy to be a mom, but social media is pressuring them in unique ways. Women are inundated with radically different ideas about what it means to be a mom. The image of perfection is everywhere.
But that’s all it is: a picture.
There’s no picture-perfect mom, and that’s a good thing. There’s no such thing as the picture-perfect dad, either. We’re all falling short. God’s grace is what brings us through, not our perfection.
Human trafficking is a part of the seedy underbelly of our society that most of us would rather not have a conversation about. It’s hard to conceive of hundreds of thousands of people, most of them children and women, being either kidnapped or manipulated into psychological enslavement. So we turn our attention to more pleasant topics.
That’s exactly the behavior traffickers count on from us to keep their activities hidden and their operations running smoothly.
Even the lowest estimates suggest that something like 100,000 kids are taken into human trafficking every year in the U.S.
Over the past couple of decades, more studies than you can count have been done to pinpoint the most crucial factors for raising emotionally strong, well-balanced kids. Almost all of them have arrived at the same conclusion: Eating together as a family is one of the most significant influences in fostering healthy child development.
A mountain of research indicates that the more families eat together the less likely a child will engage in drug use, suffer from depression, develop an eating disorder, or succumb to a host of other behavioral problems.
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.
