Forgiveness: A Testimonial

Remember the line from the movie “Love Story” that “Love means never having to say you’re sorry?”  What a crock!  John Lennon of the Beatles makes more sense when he explained that “Love means having to say you’re sorry every five minutes.”  Reconciliation and forgiveness are necessary ingredients for any committed couple’s success.  Dr.Terry Hargrave, an internationally recognized expert on forgiveness, says that “Any act of forgiveness should also be accompanied by a change in the victimizer towards trustworthy behavior.”  This means, essentially, that when you have wronged your mate you MUST convey that you are sorry! This is only
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May 14, 2013 | by
Categories: Faith issues, Family, Marriage, and Personal Growth.

Family Camping: It’s Joys and Sorrows (Ignore the Sorrows Part)

Camping with the family, woohoo!  Our family loves to go camping. If you haven’t tried it, maybe this story will motivate you.  A couple of summers ago my wife and I decided to take our kids to Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park for a couple of nights of camping.  I’m talking about tent camping.  The “deluxe” tent camping spots have wooden decks for the tents.  So we merrily ambled down the hillside to the decks and pitched our tent, which was difficult because you can’t put tent stakes into wood decks.  Meanwhile, our two oldest kids (12 and 10 at
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May 8, 2013 | by
Categories: Family and Managing Media.

What is Self Esteem?

Self-esteem has gotten a bad rap lately. Some people wonder if kids can have too much self-esteem.  I think it depends on what people mean by “self-esteem.”  If people understand self-esteem to mean that we are all winners all the time and therefore are entitled to praise and adoration no matter what, then YES children can have too much self-esteem.  This kind of unrealistic message creates a sense of entitlement in children that they should be given privileges, praise, and awards for just existing.  The end result of this will be children who lack self-respect, self-discipline, and motivation. To me,
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May 8, 2013 | by
Categories: Children, Mental Health, and Personal Growth.