When it comes to living our lives, Christ doesn't make up the difference. He IS the difference.

Do you ever feel that families are falling apart all around you?  That our families are like the scarecrow in the wizard of Oz? We're over here and we're over there . . . ?  We're all pieces of a whole that have been scattered about.  If we cannot return to the state we were in before, can we make something of what we have left?  President Gordon B. Hinkley assures us that, with families working together, we could change not only our families but society's "moral values" in "a generation or two." I'm in! I've spent a great deal of time thinking about work and recreation over the past couple of weeks.  How do you strike a balance between too much and not enough of either?  Let's start at the beginning. Work When the first family was created and placed upon the earth, God told Adam that he would be forced to labor " for [his] sake ."  Work was provided as a blessing.  When we work together as a family we learn to recogni...

In a word, yes . Recent sociological studies have found that when both parents attend church regularly: 1. it  protects more families from marital infidelity when the couple is living in an already satisfactory marriage, 2.   they use less pornography , 3.  they have  lower rates of domestic violence,  and 4.  there are less disputes over things like housework, faith, money, time and sex 5.  and women who are part of a religious group are more likely to have children. ( Successful Marriages and Families , p. 185-188). It is worth noting that if both parents do not attend regularly, there is an inequality in their relationship that can lead to violence.  Additionally, the divorce rate among LDS-to-non-LDS has a much higher rate of dissolution (40%) than other interfaith marriages.  Why? Perhaps it's because an active LDS member has to spend a great deal of "time, discipline, energy, sacrifice, status, money, and opportuni...

I've been a single mom before.  The first time was when I lost my husband to cancer.  I did it alone for two years before I remarried.  The second time?  It didn't work out, so I'm flying solo again.  It's been almost 9 months and I've discovered it's not as hard-going as I remember.  (It might have something to do with the fact that my children are now almost adults). We've come to recognize that we made the correct choice and we're all better for it.  My children needed more good in their life. It turns out that parents really do make a difference after all.  (Can you believe anyone ever argued otherwise?)  The details matter.  In fact, studies show that children with psychological disorders who are adopted into functional families largely demonstrate healthy development. So?  Parenting actually buffers children from genetic risk. (Successful Marriages and Families p. 119).  In contrast with that, children with psychologi...