Sex is a great servant, but a terrible master. Sex can bring pleasure, express love, build intimacy, and create life. But out of control, it can bring pain, express contempt, destroy intimacy, and even kill. Like any natural appetite, when fed and directed, it brings satisfaction and joy. But when starved or overindulged, it brings […]
Loneliness is a big problem, and the pandemic is making it worse. Here’s how an article on Vox puts it: The coronavirus pandemic has created a loneliness epidemic. Social distancing, while necessary from a public health standpoint, has caused a collapse in social contact among family, friends, and entire communities — one that is particularly […]
“The heart that gives thanks is a happy one, for we cannot feel thankful and unhappy at the same time.” Douglas Wood “I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” G.K. Chesterton “Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial […]
“Saints cannot exist without a community, as they require, like all of us, nurturance by a people who, while often unfaithful, preserve the habits necessary to learn the story of God.”– Stanley Hauerwas “To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we must continually do to undermine all the socialization that leads us […]
This weekend, my wife Charlene and I will celebrate 34 years of marriage. It’s hard to imagine that we’ve been together so long. We are so young! How did this happen?! One day you wake up, and you realize you’ve been with this person for 34 years. I wrote about these three myths in my […]
Recently, my wife Charlene and I traveled to Thailand, teaching about addiction, recovery, self-care, and healthy leadership. We flew out of Minneapolis on February 25, and got back home on March 14. What a trip it was! Since we’ve asked for people’s prayers and contributions to support this trip — and many of you stepped […]
“Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.” – Paul Tillich “If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as […]
“We now live in a world where we eat content, drink content and breathe content, without giving a single thought to its composition or what kind of impact it has upon our lives.” ― Abhijit Naskar Not long ago, I took a month-long media fast: time away from social media, online news, magazines, newspapers, TV […]
“Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.” ― James Allen “When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.― Francois de La Rochefoucauld To what degree is it possible to control our thoughts? Our mental health and success in life may well depend on this […]
“I have come to believe that without a strong sense of community human beings will wilt and begin to die. Community is the foundation of human society, the epitome of wholeness; in fact, the end of our journeying. As Parker Palmer writes: ‘Community means more than the comfort of souls. It means, and has always […]