It's incredibly sad how the marriage agreements importance has declined throughout the years.  It used to be hard to get a divorce! Now, it's a contract that can be broken unilaterally.  I think the saddest aspect of divorce is that in most cases if these people had the courage to work through differences, they could create a beautiful and happy marriage down the road.  Marriage won't always be a walk through the daisies because it's supposed to be hard! Getting stronger, and helping one another be happy through these discouraging moments is a lot of what marriage is about.

Parenting tip here: Kids have feelings! Wouldn't it be so much more effective to understand why they do the things they do instead of rushing in thinking you know everything that's going on? Punishing a child in a quick and seemingly unthoughtful way doesn't validate your child in the slightest.  They will begin to think you don't care about their feelings and will willfully hide them from you, along with other important happenings in their life.  These are things children need their parents for, you don't want to be in the dark.

Some see labor as a curse when in fact, it's a great blessing! Without it, what would be the purpose of life? What would we spend our hours doing? I'd like to propose we wouldn't be very productive... So maybe we should take the blessing and use it as it was intended; to find happiness. :)

Our words, tones, and non-verbal actions are meant to work together to let people know exactly what we're feeling but oftentimes we seem to use them for the purpose of confusing the ones we're close to.  It's silly that we feel the need to hide what we're really feeling.  Why not try being open? Then no one has to guess which signal to trust. When guessing comes into play, all that's created is tension and misunderstanding which doesn't benefit anyone.

"The grass is greener...on the side of the fence you choose to water." This is true in all aspects of life.  If you nurture relationships by sharing goals, serving and spending time with a person, every day will be better then the last.  We choose to love.  We choose how happy we can be in our love.

Marriage is a great way to build trust and happiness. It's sad there are so many things in the world today that desire to destroy this beautiful union. TV shows and movies work to show family life in a dysfunctional light, when in fact it has the potential to contain life changing moments.  The family is a unit you can share your innermost self with whether it's the silly, spiritual, your frustrations with life, or just about anything else.  It's the optimal environment to learn about yourself and decide who you want to be. People can truly grow in selflessness, faithfulness, and happiness if they make the decision to work for that family unit every second of every day. 

Know, trust, rely on, commit, and touch; five aspects that need to be balanced for a good relationship to form. It's not healthy to raise one of these over the others.  That's why it's so important to pay attention to every quality that you want in a life partner and to watch for "red flags." The things you can deal with now while dating, might not be so fun to live with forever as husband and wife.

So why do we feel it's okay to call people gay? Because the little boy likes to listen to people? Maybe the little girl enjoys wrestling with her brothers? I'd like to submit that...this does NOT have anything to do with same sex attraction. In fact, the simple act of mislabeling people leads to questions within the person that wouldn't have come up naturally.  Eventually thoughts grow to be what the person feels and believes which can be so detrimental to them.  This can be applied to every negative comment directed at a person.  So lets think about the lasting effects our words can have on people the next time we're tempted to say something negative, shall we? :)

Men and women are created equal, but that doesn't mean we're the same. Our brains are different, and that's okay, in fact it's amazing! It's how the two genders complete one another. No aspect of our physical bodies is an accident.  If everyone could preform every task equally well...there would be no need for learning, team work, or family. Gender differences are phenomenal, not to mention, a great blessing from the one who knows all.

So we wonder why we're supposed to teach our children? Maybe it's because parents attitudes and beliefs are transferred to their kids.  If a fickle generation is what we're wishing for...then by all means, sit by and let the world teach them. If one wants children that believe in truth and frugality, then the parents better be people that show they believe in such things.

I realized that parents care a lot about their children even when they leave the house.  I scared my mom the other day because a couple weeks went by and I hadn't communicated with her at all....bad child right here! She got on facebook...which she NEVER does...to send me a post seeing if I was okay.  Word to the wise...don't let your parents worry more than is needful! :)