Family by God&#039;s Design

A Two-Week Marriage Improvement Challenge

A research team from University of Rochester recently published an interesting study on marriage and compassion. They had 175 newlywed couples (married an average of just over 7 months) keep a two-week diary recording instances in which either spouse put aside personal wishes in order to meet their partner’s needs. These compassionate acts included meeting...

Grace Honor

compassion kindness marriage sacrifice

October 10, 2016

If You Really Want HAPPY Kids…

Popular culture encourages us to be kind to ourselves, give ourselves a pat on the back and reward ourselves for a job well done. While this advice may hold some merit, it will not make us happy. Quite the opposite, research reveals that being kind to others makes us happy. As the author of one...

Family Shepherds Honor

emotional health happiness kindness

September 12, 2016

In Family It’s Survival of the Contented

Cornell University recently completed an interesting study about the “evolutionary advantage” of a positive attitude. They were able to simulate 40 generations of people while looking at the impact of attitude on survival. (Read a review here.) The results suggested that those who survived for multiple generations: Attached more importance to long-term happiness than to...

Celebration Honor

awe and wonder family intimacy gratitude happiness kindness

January 2, 2016

Join My New Year Epidemic

A new year has begun. I’m glad. I am tired of the hassle, the bureaucracy, the constant barrage of sensational seeking in the news. I want to shed the heaviness of stress and feel the lightness of joy. So, I’ve decided to start an epidemic in my family. That’s right. I want to become ground zero...

Celebration Grace Honor

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December 26, 2015

Are We Raising the Next “Me Generation”?

I grew up in the 1970’s, which some refer to as the “Me Generation.” In 2013, Time Magazine referred to the millennials as the “Me Me Me Generation” (read more here), noting “they are narcissistic, overconfident, entitled and lazy, but they just might be new Greatest Generation” (read here). It seems a sense of entitlement...

Family Shepherds

entitlement gratitude intimacy kindness parent child relationship

September 12, 2015

The Mighty Power of Kindness for Families

In this time we call our own and in a home very near to our hearts, there rages an epic battle for the families we call our own. This battle rages between those principalities that wield great power in their efforts to tear the family apart and those in the resistance who quietly, on a...

Celebration Grace Honor

family intimacy intimacy kindness support

June 29, 2015

The Paradox of Happy Families

It seems paradoxical, even counterintuitive but it’s true; happiness is fleeting when we pursue it. The more we try to make ourselves happy, the more it eludes us. Paradoxically, we find ourselves happy when we forget about ourselves and reach out to help another. In other words, to truly experience happiness a person has to...

Celebration Grace

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March 14, 2015

Four Ways to Fill Your Family with Meaning

Feel happiness. Experience less stress, less anxiety, and less depression. Discover more control in your life. Sound good? Research suggests you can experience these things by adding meaning to your life. When we become part of something bigger than ourselves we find meaning…and meaning contributes to greater happiness. Specifically, adding meaning to our lives, becoming...