“Well, that depends – what’s the challenge?” Oh, no need to worry. It’s not eating something disgusting like eating a dish of bugs or scaling the face of Half-Dome in Yosemite. This should actually be pretty doable. “Ok. Well what is it?” you may ask. It is being kind to your spouse. While some may…
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Recently, in my Tuesday morning Men’s group, we viewed a video by author Tim Keller. He was talking about the journey of the Israelites to the promised land and pointed out that there were two distinct groups of people. The first group of people were those who left the slavery of Egypt. They saw the…
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I just finished a counseling session with a couple who talked about wanting to be on the same team, but then everything they discussed demonstrated that they are clearly fighting for their individual agendas. They are far from embracing a “team” concept. In a marriage we are two individuals who “become one”, creating a new…
DetailsYou come home from work and find your wife despondent. You ask “What’s the matter?” and she unloads on you about what one of your grown children said to her that left her feeling rejected. Wanting to help, you indicate that you will call that child and get this straightened out. But to your surprise,…
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Burnout has been defined as, “an extreme state of psychological pain.” “It’s a response to facing prolonged, chronic stressors that go beyond your ability or available resources to overcome.” Professor Michael Leiter of Acadia University in Nova Scotia states that burnout has three components – “overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism, and a sense of discouragement.”…
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I just finished sitting with a couple who are exhausted! In the last four years they have moved to 5 different states, one of them has been fighting off a significant health challenge, and they are attempting to navigate life with an 18 year old high school senior with ADHD. So, if you were guessing,…
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“So many men (and women) feel empty and unfulfilled,” begins comedian Jeff Allen. He goes on to talk about the fulfillment and accomplishments we expected to feel by this point in our adult lives. We expected to feel a deeper purpose but instead, we’ve “got nothing.” We go through the motions, and put on a…
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I feel as though I am in the weeds today. What do I mean by that? Do you ever plan your day or your week, expecting to make great headway on your meaningful and significant goals – only to get derailed? Perhaps you are checking your email and you come across one that winds up…
DetailsI recently read a story written by Dr. Bo Brock, a Texas veterinarian, about his grandparents. It seems that his grandmother would sprinkle his granddad’s work pants with starch and iron them every day. This struck Bo as odd, because, as a farmer, many days his Papaw would not see another person the entire day. …
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The following story is told by Dr. Richard Carlson and is fitting for us to consider when we find ourselves getting bogged down in the minutia of our daily life. I heard a story about two workers who were approached by a reporter. The reporter asked the first worker, “What are you doing?” His response…
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