The First Authority We Know A father is often one of the first people who teaches a child that choices have consequences, even before that child fully understands what consequences mean. A child may think about doing something wrong until one simple question enters his mind: What is Daddy going to say? Sometimes that question
A Father’s Presence Is Worth More Than a Paycheck Read More »
When the Body Count Conversation Changes I was watching a TikTok Live discussion about body count when I heard something that made me stop and think. Some women argued that a man with many sexual partners might raise concerns about discipline, faithfulness, emotional attachment, and his ability to maintain a committed relationship. Those are reasonable
High Value for What? When Attraction Changes the Standards We Claim to Have Read More »
Auditing Behavior Instead of Listening to Promises Manipulation loses much of its power when we stop judging people mainly by what they say and start paying closer attention to what they repeatedly do. Words can sound convincing because saying the right thing often requires much less effort than actually changing. Anybody can promise to do
When Words No Longer Outweigh Behavior Read More »
When Desire Begins Making the Decisions Sexual desire is a natural part of being human, but maturity means understanding that every desire does not have to become an action. A man may feel strong attraction and still decide that acting on it would be unwise. When he cannot tell himself no, he may place his
Sexual Discipline, Self-Control, and the Power of Choice Read More »
When Pain Forces Us to Look Deeper Awakening Does Not Always Begin in Peace People who grow up in painful or unstable families often start asking questions other people may never have to ask. Why does somebody who says they love me also hurt, control, neglect, or frighten me? Why does peace sometimes feel strange
Men Do Not Enter the Dating Market on Equal Terms People often talk about dating as though every man is playing by the same rules. Men are told they must approach, pursue, provide, impress, show confidence, and somehow prove their worth before a woman becomes interested. There is some truth in that description because plenty
We Usually Know When the Real Conversation Has Not Started Most of us have been in a conversation where we could tell something else was coming. Somebody walks up asking, “How you doing? Everything good? How’s the family? What do you think about this weather?” We answer politely and go along with the conversation, but
Stop Sugarcoating Difficult Conversations: Why Respectful Directness Builds Trust Read More »
Healing Is About More Than What Happened There comes a time in life when simply being able to say, “I survived it,” is no longer enough. You can survive betrayal and still come out of it having a mighty hard time trusting anybody who comes afterward. You can survive abandonment and become so afraid of
Blessings Are Looking for You: Healing What Pain Changed Inside You Read More »
The Limits of External Qualifications When people start looking at somebody as a possible partner, we often begin with the things that are easiest to see. We notice the job, income, education, house, car, appearance, religion, social standing, and all those other signs that seem to tell us whether somebody has their life together. Those
Introduction Many of us have looked back over our lives and wondered why we kept finding ourselves in the same kinds of relationships. The faces may have changed, but the patterns often looked surprisingly familiar. We may have been drawn to similar personalities, struggled with the same conflicts, or experienced the same emotional disappointments again