Some Help for your Honest Conversations

Just in case you want to wade into this whole honesty thing slowly or if you are looking for a little help. You may want to consider these guys: The Surrogate Sharers.

Honest Conversations

I had a great lunch today. The food was fine and the atmosphere was ok. It was the honest conversation that made it great.  But as I drove away, I wondered out loud how many of my relationships are enjoyable, but may be a bit fake. 

My mom always told me that "honesty is the best policy".

Thomas Jefferson  was fond of saying "honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom".

"Speak the truth in love" is Paul's exhortation for us in Ephesians 4. In fact he implies that if we do just that, it will help us to mature.

So, this week I'm going to focus on honesty in my life. I am going to follow my mom's teaching, Jefferson's quips and Paul's encouragement. I'll let you know how it goes.

Honestly, I will.

Bus Stop Nativity

I found this image to be eerily intriguing.

Are you a part of the action?.

Wisdom from a 9 year old...I can top that...

There is a 9 year old kid named Alec who is currently making big bucks on the book circuit. He's dolling out his advice on dating, and did I mention he is only 9, puh-leeze.

So, in response, I'd like to take this opportunity to give you some advice, not on dating, I gave up dating 20 years ago. But instead here is some solid marriage advice from a guy who's already into 20 years of happy matrimony.  I'm taking my lead from Alec:

-Wives win most of the arguments and have most of the power. Duh?!

-A crush is like a love disease. It can drive you mad, but we still need to foster that crush on  our spouses.

-In your marriage, try to get your spouse to like you as well as love you.

-Control your hyperness. (Cut down on sugar if you need to.) 

-Make sure you have good friends who encourage your marriage.

-Girls always like the smartest boys. It may be too late for some of us. Most of our wives have figured out we aren't the smartest boy. Instead, we should make up for it by loving them like crazy (Ephesians 5:25).

-Class clowns never make a good love story. Huh? In Proverbs it tells us that "a cheerful heart is good medicine." I've got to go against Alec on this one, and encourage you to inject more laughter into your marriage.

Alec is almost right on some of these, but will probably be beating them off with a stick once the royalties start coming in, anyway.

What are you pursuing?

What would it take for me or you to be successful?
What would have to happen for me or you to feel like we've hit the moving target?
What are you and I striving for?

I was convicted by this Catalyst article and wondered if you needed to be challenged as well.

I want to be the guy whose "hope is set on the living God", don't you?

Fun with Name Cards

When you are 8 years old and the youngest at your family's Thanksgiving table, you've got to come up with something creative to do. Here is what my daughter came up with using only the 11 name cards at our table.

Guess Who?: With all of the cards lined up, using yes or no questions the guesser determines who the guessee has chosen. This is a classic low budget version of the original Guess Who? game. 

Guess Who? II:  All the name cards are distributed, being careful that no one gets their own. When it is your turn, you must act out the actions of the relative listed on your card while everyone else guesses who you are imitating.

And finally An Early Christmas:  Cards are once again distributed and once they are, all the players are released to go "shop" throughout her grandmother's (my mom's) house for a gift for that person. Once we all return to the living room, everyone guesses which card you have, based on the gift you pilfered for them. Sadly, we were not allowed to take home our gifts.

What did you do post-turkey?

I'm climbing back on the blog horse...

It is time to saddle up the ol' blog horse. I was not thrown from this proverbial literary equine, but stepped down under my own volition. In fact, I actually enjoyed my time away from areyoudestinized, and was considering extending my hiatus until I read this from Dumb Little Man.

My hope is that you get something out of this blog (spiritual insights, relational advice, or where to get free stuff), but I also know that this writing exercise is cathartic for me. This is a classic win-win. I hope you agree.