My recent counseling has involved young couples committed to building and preserving their marriages. It has prompted a class I will be teaching ten installments beginning Sunday, January 12th entitled, "COMMITMENT: The VOW Factor in Marriage". The focus of the source will be to understand potential sources of disruptive havoc to the maintenance of our marriage vows. I will post the topics on my website, www.full-lifecoaching.org, and make our materials available upon request.
Making marriage work is hard work. The vows we take with the "for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death parts us..." have been unwittingly replaces with "as long as we still love each other", or, "until it gets too hard".
A commitment for the new year in any marriage--healthy or not--to enrich the relationship we have by invoking the principles of God's Word--will be the theme of my study. I hope you'll join me.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
A new grandbaby
Beverly and I leave this afternoon for a trip to Dallas and Nashville. Awaiting us in Dallas are JJ, Milla and Owen and in Nashville, the latest addition to our even dozen grandchildren--Vivienne Simone, born November 4th to Andrea and Stan.
We are living and loving the role of grandparenting--one defined differently, I am sure, by every grandparent. For us it includes on site opportunities in San Luis Obispo--ball games, dinners, babysitting, ball games, over-nighters, sitting in church together, ball games--you get the idea. Since we have eight of our twelve here it is a challenging but rewarding task to figure out how to maximize our involvement with each.
As we head east to spend time with our other four, we are excited about time to be with them. A ball game, church and a concert are already on the agenda, not to mention meals and football games, two Barrett specialties. Mostly, it is just the idea of being together, even though the time will pass quickly. With Andrea's recent "contribution" to the family it will be a special delight to see one month old Vivienne for the very first time! We are already thinking about how we can maximize our time in the new year with the Barrett families, several thousand miles away. It's a welcome challenge!
Grandchildren are a significant part of what motivated my retirement form full-time ministry. But I see them as a part of my new ministry--not that they are in any way affected by parental default ( all are great parents!)--but we can affirm what is already being intentionally put in place as we live and share life together.
If you're older like I am becoming, here's an area of life to embrace with excitement and enthusiasm. Love your grandchildren--they will thrive in that environment--and live, as you are able, your life with them as opportunities come--ball game, dinners, babysitting, church, over-nighters...you get the picture.
We are living and loving the role of grandparenting--one defined differently, I am sure, by every grandparent. For us it includes on site opportunities in San Luis Obispo--ball games, dinners, babysitting, ball games, over-nighters, sitting in church together, ball games--you get the idea. Since we have eight of our twelve here it is a challenging but rewarding task to figure out how to maximize our involvement with each.
As we head east to spend time with our other four, we are excited about time to be with them. A ball game, church and a concert are already on the agenda, not to mention meals and football games, two Barrett specialties. Mostly, it is just the idea of being together, even though the time will pass quickly. With Andrea's recent "contribution" to the family it will be a special delight to see one month old Vivienne for the very first time! We are already thinking about how we can maximize our time in the new year with the Barrett families, several thousand miles away. It's a welcome challenge!
Grandchildren are a significant part of what motivated my retirement form full-time ministry. But I see them as a part of my new ministry--not that they are in any way affected by parental default ( all are great parents!)--but we can affirm what is already being intentionally put in place as we live and share life together.
If you're older like I am becoming, here's an area of life to embrace with excitement and enthusiasm. Love your grandchildren--they will thrive in that environment--and live, as you are able, your life with them as opportunities come--ball game, dinners, babysitting, church, over-nighters...you get the picture.
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