Silencing Gossip
How can you stop gossip and other critical talk in its tracks? Always be ready to ask three simple questions. If someone begins to share confidential or unfavorable information or opinions about another person, and you are not part of the problem or its solution, simply interrupt and ask: “May I quote you when I […]
Clarity Plus Charity
Last week I posted a story on my blog entitled “Time to Let Go.” In that post I included this statement: “Sometimes [letting go] will call for … accepting a divorce to preserve some measure of cooperative parenting rather than dragging a legal battle out for months.” The next day I received two very different […]
Time to Let Go
When I was in college, I tried to impress a young lady by taking her canoeing on a rapidly flowing stream. I chose a bad stretch of water, and within fifteen minutes we hit rapids that threw us against a large rock in the middle of the stream. In an instant, the canoe turned sideways […]
Join Me on an EGG Hunt
Chocolate is nice, but there’s another kind of Easter egg that is infinitely better. It’s called an “Evidence of God’s Grace,” or more simply, an “EGG.” EGGs are everywhere, and yet most people, even Christians, are astonishingly blind to them. Do you realize that it is God’s grace that keeps your heart beating all through […]
Vroom
My two-year-old grandson has major idolatry issues … and you may have a similar problem. When he wakes from a nap, his first word is, “Vroom!” When he finishes a meal, he asks, “Vroom?” If we say, “Not now,” he whimpers and softly repeats “Vroom” over and over, hoping to wear us down. (He’s doing […]
Be Kind
She stood in line quietly crying, holding onto a metal sign to steady herself. I’d just arrived at the airport gate, ready to catch my flight back to Billings yesterday. As I waited for my zone to be called, I noticed her wiping the tears from her cheeks. She was a complete stranger, so I […]
Focus on the Family Broadcast
If you tune into Focus on the Family today and tomorrow (or visit their web site), you can listen to two conversations I recently had with Jim Daly about strengthening and preserving relationships in the home. The interview focuses in part on a book I published through Focus, entitled Peacemaking for Families. Just after the […]
100% Responsible
When my wife was an elementary school counselor, students were often sent to her office because of conflict. As they told her their stories, many of these children would go to great lengths to paint themselves as victims and others as being more to blame for the problem. Corlette would listen patiently and carefully. After […]
Shooting My Car
I almost shot my car after one of our Montana blizzards. A foot of wet snow had fallen in just a few hours and the roads were impossible. I’d been out earlier in the day in my son’s Honda, and had struggled to make it up the long hill leading to our street. It took […]