Daly Focus Blog
By now you’ve likely heard of the horrific and heartbreaking story involving Safyre Terry, an 8-year-old girl who lost her father and three siblings in a house fire back in 2013.
The fire, deemed arson, is still under investigation. The New York girl suffered burns on over 75% of her body and eventually lost her right hand and left foot. She now lives with her aunt.
Recently, Safyre expressed one wish this Christmas season:
She’d love to receive Christmas cards.
Although the music of the Stone Temple Pilots isn’t on my iPod, the death last week of its lead singer, Scott Weiland, caught my attention. The 48 year-old was found dead on his tour bus in Minnesota of a suspected drug overdose.
Sadly, the ascent and ultimate demise of Scott Weiland strikes an all too familiar ring. From Elvis Presley to Whitney Houston, drug abuse and celebrity excesses often lead to dark places. Of course, the rest of us aren’t immune to the scourge of modern-day vices either.
Do you have a daughter who’s a “crushaholic”? That’s a term that describes a young lady who is constantly seeking affirmation from boys.
I don’t have daughters myself, but my boys Trent and Troy are 15 and 13, so Jean and I are seeing the upheaval of the teen years up close. The physical, mental, and emotional changes can be intense.
Did I mention the emotional changes?
They can be especially pronounced in girls who tend to be emotional creatures by nature, more so than boys.
It’s been said it’s “easier to build a boy than to mend a man.”
I agree.
But a startling number of boys today are alone, left to figure out for themselves what it means to be a man. They don’t have a father in the home who will engage them.
Oh, dad may be there. But he isn’t present.
There are a lot of great dads out there, but too many men are disengaged. They don’t see manhood as a quality they intentionally bestow upon their son.
Each December and January we re-air a selection of our best-loved broadcasts of the year. It gives our listeners a second chance to listen and benefit from the God-centered, practical marriage and family advice that has become a hallmark of the Focus on the Family broadcast. It also gives our friends an opportunity to recommend a favorite program to a friend.
The next few weeks will be busy for everyone. In order to make things easy for you, I wanted to list the upcoming broadcast schedule.
Has it ever occurred to you that so many traditions of Christmas are actually sterilized versions of historical truth?
There are the lights and decorations; the smell of cookies, pies, and freshly cut Christmas trees; the music of choirs and carolers. The air is filled with the joy of the season.
It’s beautiful imagery that, in almost every way, stands in stark contrast to the dark, difficult circumstances surrounding the very first Christmas.
Case in point, let’s consider the lives of three women who lived it:
Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna.
This time of year is supposed to be the most joyous, but it’s often the most stressful.
A big reason for that is the amount of expectation we pour into the holidays.
Think about it.
We put expectations on ourselves and our family members, and they have expectations for how they want things to go as well. It’s a special time of year, and we want the house to be perfect, the gifts to be perfect, the meals to be perfect.
Thanksgiving is one of the great American holidays, a time dedicated to the deliberate expression of gratitude to the Lord for this country and our many blessings.
If you’re like my wife, Jean, you’ve been shopping and preparing the last few days. Perhaps you’ve cleared your house of extra clutter, wiped the fingerprints off the fridge and aired out the stuffy guest room. The serving platters are out of storage and your overnight guests might even be on their way.
When you think about it, instilling virtue in our children can be pretty serious business. After all, the adult world is a competitive place, and we want our kids to be prepared. And that leads some parents to bury their children under some pretty harsh standards.
At report card time, a parent wanting their child to learn responsibility may question why their nearly straight A student didn’t get that one grade just a little higher. Or maybe they snap at their teenager if he or she shows the slightest sign of irresponsibility.
Forgiveness may be one of the hardest things God asks us to do.
Not so sure? Well, think about Jonah.
Jonah was a prophet of God. His life was devoted to serving the Lord and following His will. But then God said, “Forgive the Ninevites.”
Now, remember who the Ninevites were. They weren’t the innocent-looking people so often portrayed in Sunday school lessons. They were cruel and wicked and enemies of God’s people. It would be the equivalent of God saying to us, “I want you to go to the Middle East to forgive ISIS.”
I’m sure you remember Jonah’s initial response.
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.
