my family

by

Dramatic Change Is Coming Soon

We make many changes in life. Some changes are dramatic.

dramatic change is coming soon

The other day we helped move our son into a new apartment. At just under 30, he’s lived in more places than I’ve lived in my entire life, though we’ve both lived in the same number of cities.

This new place is not too far from his last, but it does have a few dramatic differences. 

His view is one of those dramatic differences. In his last apartment, his living room window faced an old factory building turned into offices. There was not much to see and the building wasn’t much to look at – just old brown bricks.

A view isn’t everything, but in an apartment you can’t step out into your backyard and move around. A view is pretty much all you have. In his old apartment, the other building was so close you couldn’t even see down to the ground.

The one thing it did have was quiet. I think the concrete structure made the building not only quiet from other apartments below, above, and to the sides, but it was also quiet from the outside. 

The new place? …

Well, the view is a killer. He’s 17 floors up and from his living room window he can see Lake Ontario and a vast array of tall buildings, short building, a park, and the Gardiner Express way. 

Oh, did you read that? That’s right, the highway that doesn’t sleep at night. 

That’s the other dramatic difference. This new place has a traffic hum that is constant, 24 hours a day. 

I’m sure that after a very short time it all becomes white background noice, but you can hear the traffic all the time. 

… I haven’t decided whether the dramatic view outweighs the dramatic noise, but I won’t be spending enough time there to determine which is better. 

I will say that I got a killer time lapse the other night of the expressway and all the lights from the surrounding buildings. 

Also, I can’t wait to look at the time lapse I took in the morning of the city waking up, going from night to daylight.

One thing I know is you pay a premium for being in the heart of the city. He’ll have to be very strategic about where everything is placed because it’s not a big apartment. 

When I was his age, I moved into my first apartment. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a working wood fireplace in the living room. 

I wish I could remember how much the rent was back then. I think you could multiply my rent back then by 5 to reach what he pays now. 

But that view … wow, it is an amazing view! 

I always tell Lily she is living in a fish bowl when I come home in the evening and find the lights on in the living room and the curtains open. 

In Mike’s new place, with no curtains yet, he really is living in a fish bowl. He can see the world from his vantage point, but the whole world can see him.

Here’s the thing: Life brings changes, and some of those changes are dramatic. They may be dramatic in regards to space, health, relationships or scenery. But the most dramatic change one can make is going from death to life. That is what happens when one puts his or her faith in Jesus Christ. That person goes from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive. It is a dramatic change that doesn’t just last months, a year, or even a decade. This dramatic change lasts for all eternity. Be sure you’ve made that change.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is the most dramatic change you’ve made this year? Leave your comments and questions below.

Subscribe to this blog and receive posts like this right to your email inbox twice weekly.

by

My First Turkey Dinner Was Amazing

I had my first turkey dinner the other day.

My first turkey dinner was amazing

I mean, there has to be a first for everything, doesn’t there? 

There was the first time you tied your shoe laces. Maybe you even remember that time. 

I still have a faint memory of me sitting on the steps by the back door of our house when I shouted, “I did it!” And my mom came running to look.  

That had to be about sixty years ago that I tied my shoes laces for the first time. 

I’ve had many firsts since then. We all have.

One really memorable first for me was skating on an outdoor rink at a school yard. 

I was alone; it was probably about 9:30 pm. There were no lights, only the light of the moon reflecting off the ice.

It wasn’t the first time I had skated, but it was the first time I had skated after having surgery to repair an artery in my leg. 

I had injured it playing hockey and was now carrying a six inch, eighteen stitch scar at the top of my leg. I wondered if I would be able to skate again so I headed to a school rink late at night to test it out. 

I remember skating around that rink in the dark, being so thankful that I was alright and that I could skate with no pain or restriction. 

I remember just thanking God over and over and over as I buzzed around the rink taking slaps against the boards.

I guess in the same way that skate was my first, yesterday my turkey dinner was also the first of a kind. 

You see, it was the first time that our daughter cooked turkey dinner for Thanksgiving. 

And she did really well – delicious, I might add!

There had to be a first time, and the situation presented itself this year. This was it. 

Over dinner we talked about the first time Lily had made a turkey dinner. She and I had been married just a couple of months. She thought she would do it all from scratch … except for raising and feeding the turkey herself. 

She even made pumpkin pie from scratch. After making the pie and commenting on how hard it was to cut up the pumpkin, and how time consuming it was to cook and prepare it, a friend informed Lily, “You know you can buy cooked pumpkin in a can for the pie filling.” 

Lily responded, “Wait. What?!”

She’s never made it from scratch since. 

Well, Karlie had her mom’s experience to guide her in making her pumpkin pie and first turkey dinner. 

A “Griswold Christmas Vacation” it was not. No exploding turkey. 

Everyone raved at how good everything was … even the stuffing – an old secret family recipe that some say Karlie made better than her mom. 

I guess this means that we will be eating turkey dinners for years to come.

Here’s the thing: Often our prayer time ends rather abruptly. We get to the end of what we want to say to God and we wrap it up quickly with an “amen”. Let me challenge you to try something for the first time: Linger after you’ve finished your list to God. Ask Him a question and just wait. Listen for what He might bring to your mind. Your first time might turn into many more times to come.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What “first” have you experienced in the last year? Leave your comments and questions below.

Subscribe to this blog and receive posts like these in your email inbox twice weekly.

by

Thirty-Five Is Way More Than Just A Number

Thirty-five is just a number until you put some context to it, and a number can have many contexts. 

Thirty-five is way more than just a number

It can represent the number of years one has lived on this earth. … I remember when I was 35 years old, mountain biking with my youth group in the mountains in Jasper, Alberta. A bunch of them wanted to take a black diamond trail, so I figured I should go along. 

About a third of the way down, I thought to myself, “I’m too old to keep up with these kids.” I had watched them grow from junior-highers to 16 and 17 year olds and I was feeling old.

Thirty-five can also be used in the context of money. It wasn’t that long ago when $35 was about the price of a round of golf. Well, those days have long gone.

Some people might have possessions that were made 35 years ago, but I can’t think of too many things I own that are that old. 

I don’t have any clothes from back then; I don’t have a bike that is that old; certainly not a car … though a car that old would be considered vintage.

The house I live in hasn’t been around that many years, and I don’t have children that age either.

But I do have something that is 35 years old and that is a ring. It was made 35 years ago and I actually received it 35 years ago to this day (August 17).

I know you’ve guessed that it’s my wedding ring.

Thirty-five years ago today I married Lily. Well, it’s not quite 35 yet because we were married in the afternoon and I’m writing this in the morning. 

A “35” in front of “anniversary” has context. Some might consider it vintage, while others would say we’re just getting started.

But thirty-five years of marriage packs a lot of memories, and those memories go back to when we looked like kids.

I have memories of our honeymoon in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina that I can’t give you any details about … though we did play a number of championship mini-putt courses there.

I also have memories of our 10th anniversary when we stayed in the FantasyLand Hotel at West Edmonton Mall. We stayed in the Polynesian Room, but I can’t give you any details about that either.

What I can tell you is that I have loved every minute of our 35 years together. 

Well, every minute might be stretching it.

Lily and I have shared many amazing times, emotions and events in our life together. And we have also shared some low times as well.

Like any marriage, you reminisce about the good times and grow deeper together in the tough times. 

I even remember one anniversary where we spent the night in a dorm room of a university, while taking twenty-one high school students to a youth conference in Waterloo, Ontario.

… Funny thing is I can’t give you any details on that one either.

Here’s the thing: Most of us can quantify our love for someone. We can identify when we realized we loved that person and we can calculate the time from then until now. But God’s love for us is more complicated than that. His numbering system is more difficult to quantify. God says in the Bible that He’s “loved you with an everlasting love”. That almost defies putting it into context, but we know exactly what He means. Accept His love today if you haven’t already. Celebrate and reminisce about His love if you already have it. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What number means something to you? Leave your comments and questions below.

Subscribe to this blog by clicking the subscribe button in the right column to receive these posts in your email inbox weekly.

by

It Was The Longest Walk Of My Life

A couple of weeks ago I made the longest walk of my life, even though I didn’t break any distance records making it.

It was the longest walk of my life

It was still a long walk.

It was a walk that had greater meaning than pretty much any other walk I have ever taken.

… I remember after having a heart attack eight years ago, I went for walks with my wife, Lily. Those were important walks because I needed to exercise my heart without putting undue stress on it. During those walks I had to keep reminding Lily to slow down. She was always trying to pick up the pace.

When I play golf, I still like to stretch my legs on the golf course rather than ride in a cart. There is something about walking that is more meditative and relaxing. When you walk the course you take in more of the beauty and grandeur of the nature around you.

I’ve taken walks that were hurried because I needed to get somewhere fast and couldn’t run. 

And there were walks that have been filled with stress, knowing that at the end of my steps I had to do something or say something that was important.

But this walk – this longest walk – was longer and different than any of those other walks. 

I walked my daughter, Karlie, down the aisle of my church for her wedding. 

It was just a couple of weeks ago, and I think I’ve finally recovered. 

The walk itself started in the gym of the church and went through the foyer to the threshold of the sanctuary and then down the rows of pews to the front … where a young man and a pastor waited with smiling faces.

But that walk represented all the times I paced in our home, trying to rock my baby girl to sleep, and the walk with her in my arms as we quickly rushed to the hospital. 

That walk echoed the times I attended her plays and events, walked up and down a soccer field, walked into her public school, high school and university graduations.

As we made that march towards the altar, it was like this little baby in a bassinet grew with every stride to become this beautiful bride standing next to me at the end of our walk.

Our path to the front was filled with memories that have taken almost thirty-one years to walk. 

Mind you, I had to whisper, “slow down” to Karlie a few times. She takes after her mother in her walking. 

Even still, the walk back up the aisle at the end of the service was much quicker. It was a hurried walk as if to say, “let’s get going with the rest of our lives”. 

I’m convinced they make that father-daughter walk down the aisle extra slow so that at least the father can gather up all those years and treasure them in the moments before the biggest event of his daughter’s life … moments that this father will treasure forever.

Here’s the thing: There are many times when I want to rush through my time with God. I’d like to get on with my day. There are things that I need to attend to. I have pressures, interests and concerns that hurry my soul and urge me to keep it light and brief with the Lord. But God is like that father walking his daughter down the aisle, whispering, “Slow down. I have much to treasure and share with you. Let’s walk a little longer.”

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What causes you to hurry your devotional time with God? Leave your comments and questions below.

by

It Was The Same Old New Year’s Day

I do not sleep in on any day of the week, except on New Year’s Day. Maybe it’s habit, or maybe it’s because I’m rebelling. I’m not sure which it is, but I do know that it is the only consistent day of the year that I sleep in. 

new year's

In some ways it makes sense because I stay up late on New Year’s Eve. However, there are other days throughout the year that I stay up past midnight but still manage to wake up to my 6:00 am alarm.

Being up late is not the reason I sleep in – it’s a conscious decision I make. I decided when I went to bed that I was not going to get up with my alarm … and I didn’t even hear it go off in the morning. 

I am a seven days a week, 6:00 am riser, and have been for decades … but I wasn’t always that way.

When I was in high school I could easily sleep to 11:30 am – on weekends, 12:00 pm was never out of the equation for me.

But sometime as I was approaching my twenties, I changed my thinking. I didn’t like the fact that I slept through the first half of the day. I felt like I was wasting my day, missing out on something. 

It was a slow change, however. It wasn’t until many years later that I started waking up at 6 o’clock. 

That took place when I got serious about having a set amount of time in the morning to spend with God. Before then I thought I was a night hawk: stay up late and get up later.

But New Year’s Day was always a little different – especially during the ten years when I ran all-night youth events on New Year’s Eve. I didn’t even go to bed until about 10:00 am New Year’s Day. 

It was nice when I could actually get to sleep before the sun rose on the New Year.  

I’m thinking that maybe, just maybe, my desire to sleep in on New Year’s Day is out of rebellion – rebellion against getting up at six in the morning every other day of the year. 

But rebellion isn’t a good thing. It doesn’t work out well in the end. Look at the law: when you rebel against a law, in time you are usually going to get caught and have to pay a price. 

When you rebel against God, look what that gets you. It may be delayed consequences but you will pay in the end.

It’s just like delayed gratification, only in a really bad way.

Maybe my rebellion against getting up at my regular time isn’t really rebellion after all. Maybe it’s to shorten the one day of the year that, after my time with God, there is nothing – really, nothing – to do. 

… Unless you are desperate to watch college football all day. Oh, and an environmentally friendly horticultural parade.

Can’t say that I want to get up early to watch that. 

Here’s the thing: There is one thing that we should be excited for each day and that is to spend time with God. He loves it when we do, and if you do it right, you will look forward to it each day. Here’s to 2020 and a new year! Let me challenge you to set a time to meet with God each day. Make it interesting – I read through the Bible chronologically each year. Don’t do all the talking; pause to listen to what God might be saying to you. Then record what you hear, and follow through with it. Have a Happy New Year! 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What’s your big goal for 2020? Leave your questions and comments below.

by

We Fit More People In Than I Thought We Could

You can always fit more people in than you think you can. This has been proven over and over, but we just proved it once again. 

We Fit More People In

I remember in the 70’s – before seat belts were a must – we would, at times, pile insane amounts of people into cars.

Sometime we would do it for fun, but mostly it was out of necessity. We frequently needed to transport more people than there were available seats in the vehicles. It was routine that we would go somewhere with friends, often sitting in the back seat, squished between two guys, with two or three girls sitting on our laps. 

It was similar to a gang tackle in football, only we were under the pile a lot longer. 

Sometimes we would shoehorn so many friends into a car that we had to ask someone to move a bit so we could shift gears. For long trips that wasn’t bad, but for city driving it meant for a lot of moving parts.

Well, for the first time in 24 years, we hosted the Christmas meal at our home. We really should have done it the first year we moved back to Ontario – we would have had a few less people. But having the whole family for Christmas dinner at our place this year, as apposed to 24 years ago, created an even bigger space issue. 

In 1996, 6 of the 14 family members at the meal were 7 and under. Not now – everyone is an adult – no little people anymore. 

We have a dining table that seats 8. With some creativity and ingenuity from my wife, we were able to up that to 12 people. That left 6 people eating standing up, so we brought in a folding table that extended into the living room.

It was going to work we could fit everyone in. But when everyone started to arrive and the tables were set up, it didn’t leave a lot of room for people to mingle. 

There were people sitting in the living room but then a whole lot of others standing around the perimeter of the room … much like a bunch of junior highers at a school dance.

 Fortunately we soon saddled up to the tables and got down to some serious eating. 

And when dinner was over, we pushed the extra table against a railing in the living room and shortened the dining room table. People spread out to other parts of the house; some went downstairs to the family room. Before too long the family was fitting in the space.  

I’ve been to parties where there was a crowd in every room you entered, wall-to-wall people. It was not nearly that bad … certainly not too crowded for a day.

The day after I was talking with a friend and told him about the 18 people we had over to our little home and he just smiled at me. Then he said, “We have 16 people living in our house all the time.” 

… Maybe we should have the whole family over every weekend.

Here’s the thing: People have joined God’s family for over 2000 years, putting their faith in Jesus Christ. We don’t know when Christ will come back, but one thing we know is that there will always be room to fit more in. So if you have not joined God’s family by claiming Christ as your Saviour, the time to do that is now.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How can you strengthen you family ties? Leave your questions and comments below.

by

Goodbye End; Hello Beginning

The end has come, but the beginning will start soon. … I never would have said those words years ago, but they are fitting today.

Goodbye end; hollow beginning

Today we close up our cottage for the season and we won’t be back until the end of April or beginning of May – that is six months from now. 

… The end of the cottage season has come to a screeching halt. There will be no more trips up here for six months. 

Today I will put the finishing touches on the close. The final task before turning off the power and locking doors is blowing out the water lines. 

They say that everyone has the same amount of time, that we all have 24 hours in a day, and 365 days in a year. 

We all work within those time constraints, but I tell you that time seems shorter for me these days. That 24 hours for me is not like 24 hours for a 7 year old. 

I remember being young and trying to savour every bit of my birthday because the next birthday seemed forever away. 

I remember thinking that grade two was never going to end and that grade three would never happen. Well, that’s partly because I repeated grade two.  

But there was this sense that, in some cases, time seemed to stand still. 

When the summer was over, it wasn’t coming back any time soon.

But that is not the case now. Today we will lock up the cottage and walk away from it for the entire winter … but that time seems to go so fast now. 

It won’t be long before we are back at this place. The leaves will be budding on the trees and not falling off as they are now. Everything will be turning green, new and fresh, and not brown, yellow, red and orange. 

Now all the foliage is decaying – I filled three big paper yard bags full of shredded leaves yesterday. When we come back the grass will be growing at a rapid rate.

Between now and then, the same amount of time passes as it always has. But the time seems to pass more quickly.

I know this because it doesn’t seem that long ago that we were making our first trip of the season to the cottage. 

And that time has gone so quickly!

Yesterday I shot some video with my drone – sort of my way of saying goodbye to our retreat place (you can check it out here).

That video will stay on my YouTube channel all winter long and through the spring. But any time I look at those clips I will not be thinking of that day, but about the days to come. 

Maybe that is why time seems to go so fast. We are looking forward to what is coming up ahead. 

Children live in the moment and time seems to stand still for them. Adults look to tomorrow and time seems to move at lightning speed.

Maybe we need a little balance between living in the moment and looking to tomorrow.

Here’s the thing: Christ will come one day and this life we have had here will seem like it was a flash in time. The eternity that lies ahead of us, what we have anticipated for so long, will stretch before us as endless days to be savoured moment by moment. We will be able to live in the moment AND look forward to tomorrow … provided that we have here and now made the commitment to follow Jesus and submit our lives to Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How would living in the moment help you? Leave you comments and questions below.

by

It Was All Victory Until My Defeat

There are times when you have victory and times when you taste defeat. I experienced both in the same day.

All victory until my defeat

When I was in my teens, every Saturday the ABC television network had a show in the afternoon called “Wide World of Sports”. It was a 90 minute sports update from around the world. 

In the opening credits they showed the extreme variety of what they covered and there was one line that stood out: “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” They showed a ski jumper falling just before the end of the jump ramp. It looked painful.

Anyway, that was my day – the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat … and it happened in two different sports.

Well, not really sports, but I had to stick with the theme of the show. 

In the morning, I preached a sermon and it went well. I felt good about it, others appreciated the message, and I felt I really connected with the congregation. Ultimately, I felt that God was pleased with my talk.

But later in the day, my victory turned to defeat in a whole other area. 

That same day in the afternoon we had Thanksgiving dinner. My wife, Lily, went all out and it was a beautiful and tasty spread. 

But the preparation for that meal started the day before and took several hours. The day of the meal involved even more preparation and more hours to put everything together. 

But it was all worth it – mouth-watering turkey, potatoes, carrots, broccoli in cheese sauce (well, you could keep the broccoli) … oh, and stuffing for those who are into it. 

Apparently, some of the best stuffing you can find of the planet, according to some sources. I’m not a real stuffing guy myself.

Then to finish it off, we had homemade pumpkin pie with real whip cream … more whip cream than pumpkin pie, which really makes it awesome.

It was an incredibly great meal that took hours and hours of hard work to prepare and then was eaten in probably less than a half hour. 

After the meal our guests started to make their way to different places. When it was time to clean up, there were only two people left in the house: Lily and some guy who would be me. 

The kitchen had stacks of dirty dishes and pots and pans. Lily loaded as much into the dishwasher as she could, but it barely made a dent in the piles. 

She then started to make soup and take all the meat off the bird for leftovers. 

I decided to come back to the kitchen when it was dishwashing time. But what I ended up doing was falling asleep watching football on TV.

By the time I woke up, everything was all clean and Lily had spent literally hours cleaning up and putting everything away. 

That’s the moment I felt my skis go out from under me and I came crashing down on the edge of the ski ramp. Ohhhhhh the agony of defeat! 

Lil had received no help at all. … Well, just like in sports, there’s always next year.

Here’s the thing: It can happen so easily and quickly that you have a great victory, followed very closely by a demoralizing defeat. To prevent that, don’t forget God in your victory, how He provided for you, how you need Him. That way you won’t be as tempted to assume your victory was your own doing, allowing Satan to use your pride to plummet you to defeat. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What recent victory do you need to give God the credit for? Leave you comments and questions below.

by

When Your Agenda Is Not Your Agenda

Sometimes you don’t have control over your agenda. Circumstances can take precedence, or a boss may place demands on you, but whatever the case, you know when you are not in control of your day.

your agenda

This weekend I did a lot of hanging around – it was Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. We do it earlier than the States, probably because it gets cold earlier. We’re still harvesting in mid October, but by the time the end of November comes around, places like Saskatchewan and Alberta can be deep in snow.

This Thanksgiving we had our family around and that meant just hanging out and carving each other up as we reminisced of years gone by.

I discovered that with all the family here my agenda was not my own. I didn’t get to do what I wanted when I wanted.  

Even writing this blog didn’t happen early in the morning when I like to write. I was out to the stores three times and each time the purpose was primarily for someone else.

It was interesting because it reminded me of about a twenty year stretch of my life.

When Lily and I were married, we waited about four years before we had kids. In that time our agenda was our own. We did what we wanted when we wanted and for how long we wanted to do it.

But from the moment our first child, Karlie, was born things changed. Our agenda each day was not really our own.

It was high-jacked everyday after that, in some form or fashion, by our kids … until our second child, Mike, moved into his own place.

Then, as quickly and miraculously as we had lost control of our daily agenda, we got it back. 

In fact, we’ve had our agenda back for so long that it’s difficult to remember what life was like when we had a couple of pirates controlling the ship for so many years.

Well “matey”, I guess I just rediscovered what it’s like to have Captains Blackbeard and Jack Sparrow battling for control of the details of our day.  

It’s always interesting – never a dull moment – and there is lots of comedy.

But I’m not doing what I might have planned if I was in control of my agenda.

For one thing I would have had my blog post written long ago. I also would have felt free to do the things that were on my list of things to do. 

… But when I think of what is on my to-do list, there are a whole lot of things I don’t really want to do. 

So the high-jacking of my agenda might not have been a bad thing after all. 

Maybe what’s really at stake for me is the feeling of freedom. Freedom is not a real thing because I’m either tied to my list or someone else’s agenda. 

… For some reason, I just feel more free with my list. 

It’s all moot because everything went back to normal on Monday night. I got my agenda back. 

Here’s the thing: We like our freedom so much that we don’t like to give our agenda up for anyone, even God. But your freedom is really an illusion because there is always someone or something in control of your agenda. It comes down to whether you choose to feel free with God’s agenda or someone else’s. Bob Dylan was right when he sang, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” Choose God and choose His freedom.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: Who has control of your agenda? Leave you comments and questions below.

by

I Didn’t Sign Up For What Is Required of Me

There are certain things that are required of us in life, but you might be surprised about some of them.

hugs required

For sure, one thing on the list is taxes. We are required to pay taxes – and that’s just one of many government-related things that are required of us. 

We could make a list of them all here, but we are just beginning a new year and who wants to start the year being depressed!

There are some things that we put on our required list that only apply to us personally, and are not universal.  

For instance, I might have “playing hockey” on my required list. … I’m not saying it is on my list but, if it is, well, that’s personal to me. 

There are, however, things we might not think are on everyone’s required list that are in fact on it. 

I was made aware of one the other day. 

My wife and I had just finished having a stand up breakfast, where we moved around the kitchen as we ate and prepared another part of breakfast, all at the same time.

I was putting away my dishes, ready to head to the family room to work on a project. Lil was brewing a cup of coffee before heading to her office to finish her devotions. It was like we were just passing through, on our way to different places in the house. 

Then she said it: “Oh, I need a hug before you go.” 

I thought I might slip away because she grabbed the water jug and started filling it as she spoke.

But then she said, “Don’t go anywhere; I require a hug before you go.”

I was only going to the basement – I wasn’t leaving the house for the day! But somehow Lily required a hug right then. 

And I even had to wait to give her one!

I thought a hug was a mutual thing … you know, two people agree to give each other a hug, so they hug. 

But this requirement had no mutuality to it. I was required to give her a hug right then, regardless of whether I wanted to receive a hug or not.

I don’t remember signing a form or saying anything in my wedding vows that pertained to giving hugs, either the frequency, the length or the quality of the hug.

And even if this is some kind of personal requirement that Lily has for her life, it obviously has migrated over to my requirement list since I have to be on the giving end of these hugs.

We’ve been married for a long time now and it’s never really been discussed as a specific requirement. 

I think what Lily did was very sneakily introduced the hug, then repeatedly gave them to me whether they were wanted or not. 

She then, from the time they were babies, indoctrinated our kids regarding hugs. 

Now, therefore, without any official declaration, or military victory, hugs are required in our marriage. 

Well, I gave her a hug and then headed downstairs to work. … I’ll probably have to give her another one when I come upstairs again.

Here’s the thing: When you begin a relationship with God, you begin by placing your faith in Him. As you grow deeper in your relationship with Him, God requires more trust from you. Interestingly, your relationship with Him can’t grow without more trust. The great news is that God proves Himself more faithful the more you trust Him – it’s amazing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How much is God requiring of you now? Leave your comments below.