Just because you can speak doesn’t mean you should.
Chaos is easy. Order is hard.
Ego wants noise. Wisdom chooses restraint.
Be quick to listen. Slow to speak.
Pause before you respond.
Lead yourself first.
Fewer words. Stronger impact.
Say only what builds order.
Desire isn’t the problem. Dependence is.
When something becomes necessary for your peace, it becomes your master.
Hold good things with an open hand.
Pursue excellence. Love deeply. Build boldly.
Anchor your peace in Christ—not outcomes.
Master your desires, or they master you.
You don’t chase emotions—you guard your heart by the truth.
Bitterness is sin—it defiles you and others.
Freedom comes through truth believed and obeyed.
God’s Word renews the mind and transforms the life.
Maturity is measured by obedience, not feelings.
Trust Him. Obey Him. Worship Him.
When your talk is cheaper than your walk, it’s a courage issue.
It’s easier to hide behind words than face what needs to change.
That gap weakens your character.
Action is proof. Accountability puts it on display.
Courageous ownership closes the gap.
Fathers, turn away from anger and frustration with your kids. Mothers, turn away from anxiety about or fussiness with your kids. Kids, turn away from know-it-all-ism and dismissiveness to your parents. Turn to your kids, turn to your father, turn to fellowship for Jesus' sake.
His steadfast love and mercies never come to an end!
May His grace open our eyes to see His many blessings and move our hearts to gratitude.
Let your lips speak of His wondrous works—both great and small, especially the small ones.
Ownership includes your joy.
If people or situations can steal it, you’ve anchored it in an idol.
Broken cisterns leak—they bankrupt your joy.
God is sovereign and good. In Him your joy may be full.
You can have joy in trouble without expectations.
Own it. Keep it. GET SOME!
Our church is hosting a Parenting Tune-Up day this coming Sunday. The tune-up analogy works in a lot of ways. It's not collision repair, but it's check on some of the basic systems that keep things running.
I've talked about parenting a lot, and not just because I've been a parent for 23+ years. When I started as a youth pastor almost 30 years ago a lot of the work was thinking about family relationships, not just how any particular teenager was behaving.
Anyway, I started reading the Doug's book, Keep Your Kids, a month or so ago. Pastor Wilson has a lot of books about the household, and I have benefited from all of them even when there's been significant overlap.
Keep Your Kids is one of his newer volumes on the subject, and while it did have some reminders, he also deals with some more current issues as well that I found, as usual, edifying.
Maybe the thing I was most surprised by was an entire chapter on the modern usage and expectations related to EMPATHY (all rise), Chapter 3 - "Empathy and the Clowns." The demands for affirmation of one's sad feelings without any questions, let alone pushback, are a unique addition to parenting challenges in our social-media world. Wilson has some good warnings for parents to consider, especially not jumping into the sentimental quicksand with their kids so that they can actually help their kids back onto solid ground.
As parenting books go I'd give this one lots of stars. Is it the only one you need? No. Is it helpful for your own parenting tune-up without needing to leave your house? Absolutely. I gladly recommend it.
Keep turning to the Lord. When you feel lost, turn to the Son for wisdom in your walk. When you feel unstable, turn to the Rock and rest on Him. When you are living under the heavy rains of heartache, turn to the God of hope. He hears your prayers, He will not forsake you.
What you water grows.
Chaos often grows by default. Order does not.
Order must be planted, watered, and protected.
Be intentional with the seeds you sow and faithful in how you care for them.
Chaos is an opportunity to create order.
Gospel certainty forms calm, steady, confident character.
It also brings clarity that clears the fog.
I’m learning this in real time: when pressure hits, tighten trust in that certainty—God knows what He’s doing.