Daly Focus Blog
Have you ever tried to push a fully inflated beach ball under the water and hold it there?
You can only hold it beneath the surface for so long. Sooner or later, your strength will give out, and the ball will pop back up.
It’s a lot like parenting. How so?
Well, to answer that question, we’ve invited Milan and Kay Yerkovich back to our microphones. They were with us a couple of weeks ago to discuss how we develop a deeper connection with our spouse by understanding their love style and ours.
Friends: Three policemen were killed yesterday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You can read my thoughts about this terrible news on my Facebook page. -JD
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Have you ever felt like a trapped monkey?
Neither had I until a friend described to me how other cultures hunt for monkeys.
The hunters hollow out a coconut and fasten it to a tree with a rope. Inside the coconut, they put a small portion of food that can be reached through a small hole.
One of the most important responsibilities you have as a parent is passing your faith and values on to your children.
It may also be one of the most challenging tasks before you. And there’s a reason why.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, both the U.S. men’s and women’s 4 x 100 relay teams were expected to compete for the gold medal. Instead, in a shocking turn of events, neither team even made it to the finals.
If you’re a Christian, you’re aware that God desires to hear your praise and worship.
But what about your anger, or your discouragement, or your frustration that He’s not intervening in your life the way you wanted or expected?
Many Christians have a hard time believing God will tolerate such deep, often unpleasant emotions from His children. They might even say, “Oh, no, no, no. You can’t talk to God like that.”
But the Psalmists felt no such uncertainty.
For many couples, marriage is mostly about the kids.
Well-meaning moms and dads spend so many years completely devoted to the task of raising their children that they often forget to be husband and wife. It’s a situation that may be manageable while the kids are still at home and there’s enough work to “float” the relationship along – but it can become unbearable after the kids move out.
That’s what puts empty-nest marriages at higher risk for dissatisfaction – and even divorce.
I’d say the most popular word in the average parent’s vocabulary would have to be “no.”
To be fair, it’s an important word for moms and dads. Used properly, it creates healthy boundaries for children.
But I think sometimes we over-do our “no’s,” too. We can be a little too protective. Remember Dory, the Pacific blue tang with short-term memory loss from the animated hit “Finding Nemo”? She reminded Marlin, the dad of mis-adventurous Nemo, “You can’t never let anything happen to him.
What does hiking a mountain have in common with parenting? As it turns out, a lot.
Adventurers who explore the Colorado Rocky Mountains can be in the wild for extended periods of time. That can be risky if the weather unexpectedly deteriorates. Without warning, hikers can face conditions that change from one extreme to the other, and their well-thought out plans can become uncertain at best, requiring constant course corrections.
Raising children can be an equally daunting challenge.
I love the way Ray Vander Laan illustrates the expanding influence of God’s kingdom when we Christians live in faithful obedience to Christ. He says every time we obey our King – in big or little things, whether in our families or throughout our communities – we extend His kingdom by a square inch.
That’s the example Jesus lived out before us, and one which He asks us to follow. He extended God’s kingdom by doing the will of His Father, by loving His neighbor, by loving His enemy, by touching the unclean, and by caring for sinners.
True love can stand the tests of time and illness.
Meet Bill and Glad Forward, a couple you won’t soon forget. Glad has advanced Alzheimer’s, and the love Bill shows to his precious bride of 50 years is beautiful. “I count it a great privilege to care for this woman I’ve loved all these years,” Bill explains in this touching video. “She has done so much for me over these years. Now she can’t, but I can.”
It’s a love so sincere and so humble it’s almost impossible to watch without tearing up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzYVQxZDlAs
Today’s broadcast highlights another such love story where a husband cares for his wife with Alzheimer’s.
We’ve been hearing more about “boomerang kids” lately, young adults who, due to a bad economy, dearth of jobs, or for a variety of others reasons, move back home with mom and dad after a season of independence.
Boomerang kids are part of a rapidly growing trend. According to an NBC News article, “A Pew Research Center analysis released earlier this month found that 40 percent of 18- to 31-year-olds with a high school degree or less, and 43 percent of those with some college education, were living at their parents’ home in 2012.” Another study shows that 85 percent of college grads move back in after school is over.
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.
