Who doesn’t love puppies? Puppies are the epitome of joy. They are cute, fluffy, funny, awkward… even when they are bad, they are cute. They chew up the most expensive pair of shoes we have, sometimes the wall or the trim on the wall. Still, they are loved beyond words and cuter than a…
My backyard is a forest. Well, I should say the people behind my house have a forest– my yard just happens to meet on the verge of it. Thus, I get to enjoy the fruit of beauty without having to plant the seeds of the effort of maintenance. Over the spring, summer, and fall, I…
Have you ever been “in love?” Do you know that feeling? Some have called it butterflies (i.e., anxiety), others describe it as blindness to reality (i.e., rose-colored glasses). A feeling like our whole world is consumed by that one person– forgetting what lies before and what comes after is left unimaginable without them. It is…
Survival. It’s a word that denotes a victory in the face of difficult odds. Surviving requires strength. It takes effort and focuses to survive. If and when we survive circumstances, were said to have overcome them. Surviving means having beaten death itself. Our loved ones have to survive if they are to return home from…
Have you ever really looked at a spider web? We’ve all seen them, strung up between bushes in the yard, or maybe in the corner of the basement, dangling from the rafters. Maybe you’ve gotten an unintentional close-up look as you walked through one on a wooded trail, the silk wrapping around your head…
“My husband has little to no interest in being intimate with me although I believe he loves me very much. How do I handle this? Do I ask him point blank what the issue is (although I’m afraid of the answer) or do I take my concern to God in prayer and believe in a…
Every one of us has internally questioned the reason(s) we exist, why we are here, or what we were uniquely created for. Many people seek the advice of friends and family in their search for answers. We use assessment tools like Meyers Briggs or DiSC to tell us things about ourselves that we cannot see…
A little less than 8 years ago, this country was celebrating the election of its first African-American President. A select few proclaimed that Barack Obama’s victories were a signal marking the end of racism in this country. In contrast, other voices are now proclaiming him as the most divisive President in U.S. history, and tensions…
Most of us, if not all, are familiar with the notion that God gave us two ears and one mouth because He wanted us to spend twice as much time listening as we do talking. Embracing that idea is indeed a good place to start in our efforts to be more effective in our communication…
As a relationship educator and student of human nature, I have read, spoken, and written about the comparative significance between our roles and our identities in numerous formats and spaces. It is a distinction I think we must all be reminded of with a fair amount of regularity, as cultural influences constantly bombard us with…
