Talking Ain’t Doin’

One of the greatest gifts we can give to someone we love is our attention. It’s something we can sometimes struggle with when we’ve been connected with someone for a long time. We get habituated to them and stop treating them as a mystery to be explored. Instead we can come to see them as…

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The Dependability Bargain

In most cases being dependable is a good thing.  Being consistently what you’re supposed to be, the way you’re supposed to be it, doing the things you say you’ll do, these are all really great things in a world of constant change. Of course, I tend to point out that dependability cuts both ways because…

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Make It Your Own

I’ve always liked the fact that for Catholics they identify by how they practice vs what they believe. There is the lapsed Catholic, the submarine Catholics who only surface twice a year (Christmas and Easter), and the Cafeteria crowd who pick and choose. There is the strict line of the Church and how things should…

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Buying Relationship

Something we applaud in ourselves and in others is the willingness to do for others. Always being there when people need us, always willing to lend a hand, give advice, or just pitch in even without being asked. This is the kind of person that we think of as wholesome, good, and perfect. However, it…

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Do It For Them

It is really common for people to do things ostensibly for the people they love. Parents stay in difficult, unloving marriages in order to provide stable homes for their children. Couples stay together because they assume their children don’t know the marriage is dead or unhealthy or abusive and are better off in a two…

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Masking the Overcoming

From Break Through: Why We Cant Leave Saving the Planet to Environmentalists by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger “In the Greek legend, Daedalus constructs two magnificent pairs of wings out of feathers and wax for himself and his son, Icarus. As father and son fly through the air together, a plowman and a shepherd below…

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Overly General

Often when I see spiritual quotes or well-meaning messages such as “Success comes to those who don’t quit” I can’t help but think about lemmings and cliffs. I guess it depends on how you define success. Or that one about how God has a plan for us and everything that happens to us is part…

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