“My Burden Is Light”

When I think about how difficult things get when I try to face the challenges on my own, it mystifies me why I even try to tackle them alone in the first place. When He says to take my yoke upon you, my yoke is easy… He is asking us to share our burdens with Him, let Him carry the weight of them for us. Yes, we will be there seeing the action first hand, we don’t get a “pass” to get out of the difficult times, but He is there along side, attached to us, by choice, saying “I’ve got this, you just walk next to me”.

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Grace and Mercy

I know with all my heart there are some of you out there who can relate to this, there are so many people who have struggled with this I have spoken with personally. The thought that God could love me without me earning it… or someone else like my husband could love me, and keep loving me without me proving to him my worth over and over again.

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The Truth Shall Set You Free

the secrets between spouses, whether it be the husband keeping mismanagement of finances, gambling, or the loss of a job… or a wife hiding secret charge accounts, workplace flirtations, or even an affair perhaps. There are some darker, more taboo secrets I won’t address in this article, when I am ready, I will talk about those separately. Whatever the secret may be, it is going to break down your relationship- Guaranteed. If you ponder for a minute, having secrets from your spouse is living a lie.

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Too Much Pressure

Pressure, Stress, Expectations… add emotions and fears, and you have a recipe for explosive confrontation. If you and your spouse are in the same place,(stress wise )it intensifies the power of that explosion. First, I have to say by way of reminder, you are each others best advocate and cheerleader. If you haven’t become that for your spouse, it is high time you did.

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What A Nag!

So why the nagging? Is it fun? Do you just think he deserves to be shot machine-gun like with choice morsels of cleverly formed jabs, so he will be sure of your disapproval? Don’t think I am only going to address how this applies to your marriage. If you are nagging him, you are nagging your kids too.

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Too Late For Regret

He finally decided to try the other approach, he knew he got attention when he got in trouble, so he started getting into trouble allot of it. They called the police and he went to juvenile hall, they couldn’t handle him, they called it being incorrigible. He came home, the drugs, and drinking were keeping him from the pain of constant rejection.

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Father and Son

For some reason, in the heart of each son, their is a passionate desire to please his father, and to make him proud.

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Love’s Triumph

Have you ever sewn a garment, and had the tension on the sewing machine be out of calibration, your top stitches may seem to be just fine, but the moment you expose the underside, you see the missing thread, and it causes the seam to come apart as it had not been passed through at all. Tension in a marriage is a good thing, it draws us into intimate conversation, into deeper trust for one another as we battle through the times of discord.  I love the chorus from a song by Sixpence which goes…

                                     “but tension is to be loved
                                    when it is like a passing note
                                   to a beautiful, beautiful chord “ 

I love that!  It is so true, tension passes in and out of our relationships, and as it does, it creates a symphony of beautiful and wonderful harmonies which would never be possible without it.

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Affirmation and Solidarity

The times when we are in the crucible of trials is when we need someone to be solidly behind us. We need words of affirmation, and the confidence building that assures them that everything is going to be O.K. Think about the marriage vow, “… in richer and in poorer, in sickness and in health” a commitment and promise was made that assured that other person that you wouldn’t let them down , even in the worst of circumstances.

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Parenting is An ART

Just like the Bonsai tree , raising children requires careful training, and special handling and care. My husband has recently taken up the hobby of bonsai, it takes patience, it requires molding and bending the branches while they are young and tender. Right now, he has a heavy rock tied to the ends on a couple of wired branches. If you follow the symbolism here, you will understand that while your child is young and impressionable, it is the most important time to establish the rules and boundaries for your home life. The other important thing to catch here is that a bonsai artist studies the sapling before they start the formation of the design. They look at what the finished result should look like in their mind, and start pressing slowly toward that goal.

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