He told me “Never say ‘never.’” Of course, at the time I missed the humor in that contradictory command. But, still, there is wisdom there. Whenever I counsel couples or anyone having challenges in their relationships (aren’t we all?), I tell them “Avoid the words ‘always’ and ‘never.’” And...
“Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done.” When I sang that old hymn as a boy, I wondered what it could mean. After all, how can you count your blessings? There are so many. All you’d do is count...
Life can be discouraging at times. A wise man once told me this during a particularly discouraging time in my life: “Son, don’t quit when life is tough. You don’t throw your ticket away just because the train goes through a dark tunnel!” I still remember that today. And...
Being a typical man (that’s not a bad thing!) I always assume I don’t need to read the directions! After all, I’m educated. I’m capable. I know what’s going on, right? Uh, yeah, right. So, with that confidence (perhaps overconfidence) I launched into putting together the table we just purchased from...
"Don't judge me!" With that, the argument was suppose to be over. After all, my interlocutor had used the nuclear bomb of debate. He had pulled out the "Judge Not" card. And, after all, since he was debating a Christian, that meant the discussion was over and he had...
It seems we’ve been focusing on being awake this week and today is no exception. In fact, I want to really dive deep today in the central wisdom of the Church that teaches you and me to “BE” awake to what is most important in life. And that’s because it...
“It is a great achievement not to be attracted by things. But it is a far greater achievement to remain dispassionate in the face both of things and of the conceptual images we derive from them.” St. Maximos the Confessor Isn’t that great? The ability to be free from a...
“But I don’t want to!” My 5 year old simply didn’t want to go to school that day. She didn’t want to, and that fact alone should have released her from her obligation to attend class that day. “I don’t want to!” Imagine her surprise when her father, the...
It’s amazing how perspectives change as you get older. When I was a kid in elementary school, we boys were absolutely convinced that the girls had cooties! Of course, we had no idea what “cooties” were, but if the girls had them then that meant we needed to be as...
In one of the retreats that I give around the country, I have a particular presentation about how to heal the weaknesses of our modern age. I use examples from sociology, psychology, science, and even religion. But then I get down to the timeless and purposeful answer from Orthodoxy: GO...
