• honor
    Boundaries,  Character,  family,  home environments,  relationship

    How to Protect Your Family’s Honor

    The idea of family honor is pretty old-fashioned, and in its older forms, even harmful. Family honor in the past consisted of creating a family mask that presented one face to the world while hiding dysfunctions within. But cultivating a culture of honor, real honor is actually crucial for creating a lasting marriage and familial relationships that are fulfilling. Family honor is not about the face presented to the world. Real honor is how well the members of a family treat each other. Honor is the act of valuing a person over things. When someone honks their horn at you rudely in traffic, or cuts in front of you in…

  • gratitude
    Gratitude,  mindfulness

    How to Have Gratitude without Faking It

    My ability to have gratitude has grown with my capacity to tell myself the truth. I used to think that offering the sacrifice of praise that the book of James recommends meant I had to pretend to be thankful for some really awful things.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 we read In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So occasionally I would wind up my thanksgiving machine and thank God for things for which to this day I am not thankful. What I have since learned about the sovereign hand of God and gratefulness is life-changing, but really could only come at with the…