Daly Focus Blog
With Veterans Day tomorrow, it’s hard for us at Focus on the Family to forget the many sacrifices the men and women of our armed forces make.
Colorado Springs is a military town. We have Army and Air Force bases here. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is located within our mountains. Every May, Focus employees stand on our ministry’s balcony and watch the Thunderbirds perform at the Air Force Academy graduations. Huge cargo planes fly overhead and rattle our houses.
They say opposites attract. And at first, the differences are what make each other loveable.
That’s why the introvert marries an extrovert.
The night owl ends up with a morning person.
The spender decides to get hitched with someone who’s really thrifty.
But after the wedding comes… life. And what was once cute is now irritating.
Why is she so soft with the kids? They need to learn some discipline or they’ll never grow up to be productive adults!
On yesterday’s program, the first in our two-part broadcast, “Game Plan for Having a Happier Family,” our guest, author Dr. Kevin Leman, challenged parents with something of a brainteaser:
Imagine your 14-year-old son announces he just gave the $200 he earned last summer to his buddy.
With a proud grin, he says he is now the co-owner of a used motorcycle.
The question is, how would you react in that moment?
Would it send your blood pressure through the roof and become a source of conflict between you and your child for days on end?
Two weeks ago, Brittany Maynard’s op-ed, “My right to die with dignity at 29,” ran on CNN.com. In it, she shared about her diagnosis of brain cancer just a year into her marriage. Doctors told her she had only six months to live.
I can’t imagine receiving such a diagnosis at age 29. My heart breaks for this young woman and her family.
After talking with doctors and her family, she declined palliative care.
My wife Jean and I have been married for 27 years.
And although our marriage is getting better with each passing day, not every moment has been blissful. If you’re married, I’m sure you can relate. There are highs and lows and lots of moments in between.
Through it all, though, we’ve challenged ourselves to keep close by seeking to remain in consistent fellowship with the Lord.
We want to encourage those who are married to do the same.
Do you struggle wondering if you measure up as a parent?
Perhaps you see other families from the outside, and it’s like watching a highlight reel. Their children don’t squabble, the parents never have a disagreement, and life seems perfect.
But is it really?
Every family has its challenges.
Just ask Franklin Graham, the son of Billy and Ruth Graham.
If the Lord would bless any family with model children, it would be the Grahams, right?
It’s such a common feeling they made up a new word for it.
“Hangry” is a combination of hungry and angry – as in, when you’re hungry, you’re more likely to get angry or grumpy. It’s a real thing.
A recent article, “The science of ‘hangry’ – how low blood sugar makes you a monster,” cites a study that found “married couples get increasingly angry and mean towards one another” when there’s not enough glucose to fuel the brain.
Our children live in a screen-driven world.
In some ways, it’s been this way for a long time. Since the 1950s, television and children have gone together like cereal and milk.
Who doesn’t remember Saturday morning cartoons?
The advent of video games and the proliferation of smart phones and tablets in the past decade have only served to add to a child’s “screen time.” Walk through a mall or an airport and you’ll see that many children seem perpetually “connected” to an electronic device.
A lifelong marriage goes through many seasons.
The romantic honeymoon phase kicks off the journey, but soon enough, the couple often enters into the hectic young-children-and-little-sleep stage. Before they know it, those toddlers are teens … and then the high schoolers go off to college.
Pretty soon, that once fresh-faced husband and wife are coming home to an empty nest.
With all of these changes and challenges how can we keep our marriages healthy and happy?
Psalm 127 provides invaluable insight into God’s heart for families. They are familiar verses most Christian parents have heard or read countless times:
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.
3 Children are a heritage from the Lord,
offspring a reward from him.
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.
