It’s the day of the week where I kick my feet up and let someone else write the material. It’s FRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!
Not only is it Friday – it’s National Donut Day!!!!
And not only is it National Doughnut Day – it’s FREE FLOW FRIDAY!!!
Does it get any better???
I have come across some GREAT stuff recently. I divided them into 4 categories: Parenting, Occupation, Spiritual, and Issues.
Let me know your favorite and your thoughts about what they have to say.
Enjoy. . .
Parenting
#1. 5 Suggestions to Make Family Time More Effective by Ron Edmondson
“I’ve never seen effective parenting accomplished much in front of the television. (Ouch!) If you want more effective family time, take advantage of the time you do have and be intentional, implementing the plan you have for your family.”
#2. 5 Words that Can Shape Your Parenting by Ron Edmondson
“Too many parents allow too much freedom early and then try to get control back when the child tries to be an independent teenager. It should be the opposite. You are training a child in the way he should go. Take advantage of the years where they desperately need and will comply with your wisdom.”
#3. The Truth about Kids and Social Media by Amy Jo Martin
“We don’t like what we don’t know or understand. Parents don’t like the thought of their kids embracing social media because they don’t fully understand the benefits and dangers. In many cases, they also don’t understand the social platforms to their full extent. Education is key for the parents as well as the kids. Not to mention teachers! Everyone involved needs to understand the pros and the cons.”
Occupation
#1. 3 Kinds of Laziness by Sean Blanda
“It’s that third kind which has the most relevance to our work. We value “detail-oriented” people but there’s certainly a balance there. We’re wise not to get lost in the details of our work as an excuse for not finishing.”
#2. Why Men Work So Many Hours by Joan C. Williams
“It’s not productivity. It’s not innovation. It’s identity. If you’ve lived a life where holidays are a nuisance, where you’ve missed your favorite uncle’s funeral and your children’s childhoods, in a culture that conflates manly heroism with long hours, it’s going to take more than a few regressions to convince you it wasn’t really necessary, after all, for your work to devour you.”
#3. The Best Way to Pursue Your Life’s Work by Jeff Goins
“We become what we practice. If you do something long enough — anything, really — it becomes habitual. Second nature. Like you’ve always done it.
So if you want to “put a dent in the universe” (as Steve Jobs once said), you have to start where you are, not where you want to be. You have to take the first step.”
#4. Faced with Overload, a Need to Find Focus by Tony Schwartz
“For more than a decade, the most significant ritual in my work life has been to take on the most important task of the day as my first activity, for 90 minutes, without interruption, followed by a renewal break. I do so because mornings are when I have the highest energy and the fewest distractions.”
#5. Why What Others Are Doing Isn’t Working for You by Kimanzi Constable
“What you do isn’t as important as why you do it.”
Spiritual
#1. The Ultimate Church Potluck Menu by Jon Acuff
“Something all Christians love to do is have a church potluck. It gives us a great opportunity to fellowship and do life together while sidehugging in our V-necks.
But do you ever feel though like we’re not always fulfilling our potluck potential? Is there a hole that two crock-pots of chili doesn’t seem to fill? That there’s got to be more to potluck life than just another spoonful of potato salad?”
#2. How to Pray Evangelistically by Chuck Lawless
“Who is praying for you to speak the gospel boldly and clearly? Are you praying for other believers to be evangelistic? Are you praying for non-believers? Are you asking God to save and transform a specific person?”
#3. How to Reach People Who Don’t Think They Need God by Carey Nieuwhof
“Encourage the Christians in your church to get involved in their kids schools, to play sports in a community league, to get to know their neighbours. Pick a few key ministries and do them well (we encourage people to serve on Sundays and be in community group one night a week; that’s about it). Salt only realizes its purpose if it gets out of the box and into the food it needs to season. You can’t influence people you don’t know.”
#4. Leaders: If You Miss Family. . . You Miss (Almost) Everything by Carey Nieuwhof
“Unchurched people never lie awake at night thinking about your next sermon; but they do lie awake at night wondering if their kids are going to be okay. When you start the conversation with unchurched people around the cause of family, you have a conversation they’re already engaged in. And you want to reach families, right? What if the conversation about family is the greatest evangelism opportunity you’ve got?”
Issues
#1. Do Denominational Labels Matter Anymore? by Matt Willmington
“Time is coming very rapidly in America, where names, tribes, associations, denominations will mean very, very little to anyone outside the faith. The only questions they will ask are these: “Are you followers of that Jesus? Do you believe those teachings of that Book? Do you really love each other the way He said you would? Is there any salvation there for me?” God help us if the answer is, “not sure ‘bout all of that, but we’re Baptist!”
#2. Wanting a Mom and Dad – The Children of Same Sex Couples by Eric Metatexas
“Contrary to what the gay lobby claims, Lopez writes, children raised by same-sex parents “deeply feel the loss of a father or mother, no matter how much we love our gay parents.”
These children know they are “powerless to stop the decision to deprive them of a father or mother,” he adds. And this decision comes with serious and often permanent consequences. For instance, they “feel disconnected from the gender cues of people around them,” and long for a role model of the opposite sex.”
Non-Traditional Heartburn 