Daly Focus Blog
You’ve probably noticed that you and your spouse don’t always see eye-to-eye. Maybe one of you talks too much – or not enough. Or one of you feels hot while the other is shivering cold. Or maybe one of you is a saver and the other is a spender.
If you’re not careful, those differences – especially that last one – can drive you apart. Petty disagreements about money can easily turn into full-grown battles that bleed a relationship dry.
Christmas traditions vary by family and organization, but I wanted to share a new one from the Focus campus here in Colorado Springs.
For the first time ever, we planted and lit a 30 foot evergreen tree here at the front of our property. We also dedicated and lit a beautiful new creche beside it.
Just a week after the lighting, a massive windstorm of 100 mph gusts blew through the town, toppling ten other trees on our property.
The Focus Christmas tree survived!
Our culture is so toxic that an increasing number of young girls are suffering from a growing list of troubles – from low self-esteem and anxiety to depression and eating disorders.
What’s the answer? It isn’t so much a “what” as it is a “who.”
Mothers.
Mom, you are instrumental in helping your daughter navigate a world that is often against her. An effective way to do that is to be a good listener. Your daughter is much more likely to share her heart with you than with Dad.
Jesus’ mother was Mary.
The prophet Samuel’s mother was Hannah.
King David’s mother?
The Bible doesn’t tell us, but she must have had tremendous insight into how boys become men because she didn’t rescue her son from risk. David was a teenager when he conquered Goliath relying on strength and trust in the Lord he developed in the field. First Samuel 17:34-36 says:
“But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep sheep for his father.
We are in the Advent Season, and the word “anticipation” seems like an appropriate word to describe how I feel about the approach of Christmas. Saints of old, by faith, anticipated the coming of Christ on that first Christmas. Simeon, for example, rested on the promise God had made to him that he would not see death until he had gazed into the eyes of his savior (Luke 2:25-32).
As a child, my parents required that my older brother and I feed and water our horses before starting our celebration of Christmas.
Author Jodie Berndt has heard from hundreds, if not thousands, of parents through the years who struggle with praying for their children, as she did:
They feel inadequate.They believe prayer to be a natural part of the parenting process, but rarely feel like their prayers “pack a punch.”Jodie even worried that her proud or anxious prayers might elbow God out of the picture.
The more familiar Jodie became with the Bible, the more Scripture reshaped her perspective and her desires – and the more her prayers lined up with God’s will
The book of James says that “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16).
Coming out of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, you might have missed news last week of a significant study concerning the current state of the American Family.
“The Divided State of Our Unions: Family Formation in (Post) Covid America” confirms much of what we’ve been tracking here at Focus on the Family regarding the rapidly evolving dynamics surrounding attitudes toward marriage and children.
A crisis almost never leaves anyone the same, so a fair question to ask is just how has the global pandemic impacted our relationships?
One of the top calls our counseling team receives is from parents who struggle with feelings of resentment, sadness, or anger because of a fractured relationship with their adult children. It’s heartbreaking.
It’s also common. A 2015 studyby Richard Conti of Kean University found that 43 percent of college students had been estranged from their parents at some point. Twenty-six percent reported extended estrangement.
When a parent/adult child relationship is fractured, the most effective solution is to redefine the boundaries.
Over the past couple of decades, more studies than you can count have been done to pinpoint the most crucial factors in 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 raising healthy, well-balanced kids.
The more families eat together, the less likely children will engage in drug use, suffer from depression, develop an eating disorder, or succumb to a host of other behavioral problems.
Parents often dream about their children becoming doctors, astronauts, or business executives. They help their children along that path by helping them develop specific talents or academic excellence.
The trouble with that approach, according to parenting expert Dr. Kevin Leman, is that it focuses on what our children will become, rather than who they’ll become.
To correct course, Dr. Leman offers parents eight strategies for raising successful kids:
Start with the end goal in mind.Expect the best, get the best.
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.
