Search Results for: blog why my beliefs matter

Agreeing on the Things that Matter

He likes football. She can’t stand it. He likes motorcross racing. The noise gives her a headache. She likes watching romantic movies. He’d rather die. She likes going hiking. He feigns a bad back whenever she suggests it. In every marriage, you’ll find that you have differences. This is part of what keeps your relationship spicy. Imagine if you were married to someone exactly like you … I think you’d get pretty bored, pretty fast. After all, if you were the only person you needed, why get married? We marry, in part, to bring other thoughts and ideas into our … Continue reading →

Family Matters: Marriage Thicker Than Blood?

How devoted are you to your partner really? Devoted enough that if, for whatever reason, you had to choose between your husband/wife and your own family you’d choose your spouse? “Why on earth would I have to choose between the two, Courtney?” you may be wondering. “Surely nothing could be that bad it couldn’t be worked out.” Sadly, sometimes things are that bad. Sometimes things just can’t be worked out. For instance, sometimes a parent opposes a match so fiercely they throw down an ultimatum: marry him/her and I’ll never speak to you again. When my mom was living with … Continue reading →

Why My Beliefs Matter

This is the second part based on a small-group series I’m working on called Values that Last. Last week’s blog was on Choosing My Standard, and this week I’ll be sharing on why our beliefs matter. How we view our world is so important because our lives are based around perception. If we believe what the Bible says to be truth, then likely (hopefully) we’ll conform to the teachings of the Word. Likewise, if we perceive life to be about feeling good, we will likely shape our ways around things that make us feel good. Views on life are critical … Continue reading →

Who Is My Audience? (Part I) The Obligatory, Inevitable Blog About the Blog

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It’s only a matter of time, right? Am I the first to write a blog about this place, and the process of blogging here at families.com? Well, in any event, I have many thoughts about this issue of my audience, and while people have left me comments and I am getting read fairly well, I am wondering about my blog and the function it serves here. A casual look at most of the other blogs will show you that the writers here want to inform the audience and be a resource for one another. There’s a lot of “how to” … Continue reading →

What’s Wrong with Some Healthy Competition?

Last week I heard a story on the radio about a blowout high school basketball game that took place in Utah. Christian Heritage High won over West Ridge Academy, 108 to 3 in girls’ basketball. Instead of the story being about this awesome game that Christian Heritage won, it was about unsportmanship. Why? Apparently some have criticized the coach for allowing the team to score so high. His defense was that he only had nine available players and so he couldn’t pull out his starters. I guess some believe that they should have slowed the game down a bit and … Continue reading →

Listen, Don’t Judge

This past week Dr. Phil had yet another show on teen trends. This one was regarding a legal substance that teens are using to get high on, tattoos and dangerous stunts. There was something he said at the end of the show that really stuck out to me. It was about dialoging with our teens. He said to listen and not judge. That can be very difficult for parents. Many times our teens really don’t make sense. Their thinking can be skewed. It can be based on false beliefs, misperceptions, deception or just immaturity. Yet no matter how “wrong” we … Continue reading →

Are You Living and Working to Your Potential?

Has anyone ever told you that you are not working up to your potential? Perhaps you have said it to yourself. Some of us have heard it from other people – bosses, spouses, or our parents, and some of us say it to ourselves. It does not really matter where you get the idea that you are underachieving from, as long as you have that thought in your mind, it affects you. Kenneth Christian, the author of “Your Own Worst Enemy”, estimates that one in four adults is an underachiever. Underachieving is, simply put, falling short of one’s potential and … Continue reading →

The First Year of Marriage

As I listen to people talk I find a lot of couples seem to have unrealistic ideas about marriage. Of course, I suspect many of these are perpetuated by romance novels, songs, and movies. One couple I know found the first twelve months or so of marriage very difficult. Every little thing seemed to aggravate the other person. This was largely because they were living in a small flat and she was not used to not having a space that was not completely her own. Another woman found it strange sharing a bed with another person. Personally I like waking … Continue reading →

A New Normal

Many parents who adopt transracially deeply feel that looks shouldn’t matter. And in one sense they shouldn’t. But I’ve come to see that looks cause assumptions to be made. Assumptions that my daughter is lost, although she’s standing right next to me. (She’s Korean and I’m fair-skinned.) Assumptions that I’m her babysitter. Assumptions that she doesn’t speak English. Certain aspects of how one looks carry assumptions based on past experiences and emotions. Different people have different assumptions about who feels threatening and who feels comforting. The more we are around something, the more it becomes part of what we define … Continue reading →

The Curious Case of Sister-Wives

The other night I stayed up late watching TV because I couldn’t sleep. I ended up tuning into a show called “The Secret Lives of Women.” Apparently the show’s a series and features insight into different aspects of women’s lives. The night I watched the topic was polygamy. I have to admit, other than what I’ve seen from the media, I don’t know much about polygamy. I knew the concept of multiple wives sprung from religious beliefs, but I’ve never understood why any woman would sign up for that type of marriage. (Unless if she was forced into it, like … Continue reading →