Search Results for: blog how much forgiveness should we model

What can we Learn from Our Kids?

Who is the teacher and who is the student? For the average parent, this can be a question we find ourselves asking as we notice how much we learn and expand from our role as caretaker and guide. While many of us may have gotten into parenting because we felt we had something to offer, we quickly find that we are on the receiving end of so many lessons too. In my own life, I have to admit that some of life’s most poignant lessons have come to me through parenting. My children have been a huge mirror for my … Continue reading →

How Much Forgiveness Should We Model?

As role models for our kids, we parents have tall orders—we have to set an example and model desirable character traits and behaviors, but we also have to allow for some flaws and humanity. One of the things I know that single parents can model for our kids is forgiveness—such an important life lesson. We might start to wonder, however, how MUCH forgiveness we should model and when our forgiveness lessons have crossed over into co-dependency? I think about forgiveness in two pieces—there are the little, daily constant infractions that we need to learn how to let go of and … Continue reading →

We Are Our Kids’ Role Models

Perhaps, no one may have more influence in your child’s life than you! If you have children in your home, I believe God has entrusted them into your care for a reason. He has a purpose for them through you. While they are very young we have much influence over them as to how they will perceive their world, what they may generally believe about other people, and very importantly, how they see Christ. Even if your children are older, there is still so much you can teach them. I believe the biggest way our children learn from us is … Continue reading →

What is Love?

What is love? Love is not a feeling. Oh it may start out that way. But love shows itself in action, by what it does. I have to disagree with the lines in a favorite movie of mine. Matt Drayton the character played by Spencer Tracey says, in ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,’ ‘The only thing that matters is what they feel, and how much they feel, for each other. And if it’s half of what we felt- that’s everything.’ But it’s not all what they feel. The young couple shows their love by their actions because they’re ready to … Continue reading →

Caught in the Headlights – Barry K. Phillips

Life is designed to teach us things we need to know. Sometimes we “get” those lessons the first time around, and sometimes we have to learn them over and over and over again before they really sink in and we realize how we’ve been sabotaging ourselves. In the new nonfiction book “Caught in the Headlights,” author Barry K. Phillips takes ten of the lessons he learned the hard way and shares them with us, in the hopes that we’ll learn from his mistakes and not have to smack our heads against the same walls. With a conservative Christian approach, he … Continue reading →

Rehashing Offenses

We’ve all been hurt. There’s no doubt about that. Someone said something thoughtless, and while we tried to react in a Christlike way, the sting is definitely there, and we can’t forget what happened. Our first reaction may be to tell our husbands or wives what happened. They’re sympathetic, and they bolster us up and make us feel better. But that good feeling only lasts a little while, and then we feel hurt again. So then we tell a good friend, and she expresses the appropriate amount of shock, and we feel good again. Over and over the cycle repeats, … Continue reading →

Forgive, Forgive, Forgive!

I wrote earlier today about how hanging on to hate can waste a lot of time. It dawned on me as I was finishing up, however, that the anecdote to hate is really forgiveness and while we often talk about the importance of forgiveness and letting go, few of us know how drastic forgiveness can be. It has taken me over forty years to learn that forgiveness is NOT giving up or letting others have control over me; it also does not mean that I am forgetting or allowing myself to make the same mistakes over and over again. What … Continue reading →

Taking Out the Trash

My children don’t seem to understand the difference between garbage and treasure. They hang on to every scrap of paper, yogurt container, soda bottle, tin foil bit, and inch of string. Every time I help them clean their rooms, we have deep discussions over what constitutes garbage and what really is worth keeping. I always throw out at least two garbage sacks of treasures, mostly for sanitary reasons but also for sanity reasons, and they are in tears because of it. I can’t wait until they are finally old enough to get what I mean when I say, “that’s garbage” … Continue reading →

Gospel Doctrine: Divine Communication

Several verses in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount focus on prayer. This should be no surprise, as prayer is an important and integral part of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. In our earthly relationships, communication is essential or the relationship is nonexistent; it should be no surprise that it conversation is equally required in our relationship with our Lord. But we must always remember that, just as conversation is two-way, prayer also involves us speaking and listening. If we omit the part of the prayer where we receive revelation and inspiration from our Father, the prayer is incomplete. Most … Continue reading →

Saying You’re Sorry

I think one of the most difficult things for any of us to do is to admit when we’re wrong. It might be that we believe we are right or it might be that our spirit becomes too prideful to humble ourselves to say those simple words, “I’m sorry.” It’s also difficult to say you’re sorry to someone who might not appreciate that you are. Sometimes the person we’ve offended is prideful themselves and we don’t want to say we’re sorry just to have it taken as a point of weakness. Regardless of the reasons for one’s resistance, we have … Continue reading →