This is just too good not to pass on to all. Something absolutely positive for a change. I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this way. It’s nice, The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn’t even touch college tuition. But $160,140 isn’t so bad if you break it down. It translates into:   · $8,896.66 a year, ·  $741.3 month, or * $171.08 a  week. · That’s...

What do you think the most desired gift is? At the very centre of the human heart is a deep seated desire. A desire that every person craves, a need that every individual has. What is this deepest and strongest of human desires? It is the desire for love. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I am bankrupt without love”. (from the message translation) We live in a world where many people work very hard to achieve material wealth, often motivated by a desire to provide good things for the people they care deeply about. I have meet many men who work...

In my last post I talked about the power of words to change the intensity of the emotions we feel and how words impact the atmosphere we create around us. Today I want to pick up on the thought that language is about ‘creating’. Most people think language is about communication, and while we do use language to communicate, at a deeper level language is about creating. We can use words to build people up or we can use words to tear people down, so in that sense we can use words to build or to destroy. But let’s pursue the logic of how something is created for a moment: Everything that has ever...

There is an old saying that goes: “Sticks and stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you” But like a number of old sayings this is simply not true. There is actually much more truth in the line from one of Dolly Parton’s songs that goes like this: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can break my heart”. The truth is that words have real power. The words we use shape how we feel about a situation and they influence the intensity of emotion we attach to that situation. For example, take a situation where something has happened and you start to feel angry about it....

There is a fundamental principle of life that says “We reap according to that which we sow”. So I have determined to sow good positive stuff where ever and when ever I possibly can, and you know what, my experience is, (surprise! surprise!) the principle works. So why not give it a go today. Here’s a really practical way to start and it’s actually a lot of fun: Try giving away a smile to everyone you see for the rest of the day. It won’t cost you anything because smiles are completely free, but they are in fact quite valuable in terms of the benefits they give. The most normal response when...

This lovely little story will touch the romantic in you… As I walked home one freezing day, I stumbled on a wallet someone had lost in the street. I picked it up and looked inside to find some identification so I could call the owner. But the wallet contained only three dollars and a crumpled letter that looked as if it had been in there for years. The envelope was worn and the only thing that was legible on it was the return address. I started to open the letter, hoping to find some clue. Then I saw the dateline–1924. The letter had been written almost sixty years ago. It was written in a...