The Family in the Modern Context

Studying the family this semester has been one of the most fulfilling and impactful things that I've engaged in.  Of all of the things that I learned in my studies, I think that my biggest take away is that we should live our lives intentionally. It is so easy to slip into habit and natural tendencies, but we don't have to! We always retain the power to make our own decisions in our lives. If we let it, life can be like a stream that carries us down-water. It is entirely possible to "take things as they come" and allow ourselves to be at the mercy of the events that happen to us.  We can do so much better, though. We have the power to break out of this flow! When we make informed decisions, even small things can have an enormous impact on our lives. Our attitudes have the ability to change the entire direction of our lives. I think that acknowledging our own power in our ability to exercise control over our lives is a very beautiful thing.  If we set a goal for oursel

I can't relate to the experience of parenting on a very concrete level, simply because I haven't become one yet. Still, of all of the things that I've talked about here before, I think that intention is the most important thing of all. When we live our lives intentionally, then that is where we can really begin to do good things. So, while I am not a parent yet, that does not mean that I cannot prepare for it now. There are various learning curves that we hit in life. When we are born, we are totally immersed in a totally new environment, and we have to learn to do everything that we need to survive. Marriage is another learning curve that requires new skills to be learned; things like communication and working as a team. Raising children is an extension of this, and also comes with a lot of new challenges and learning opportunities.  Most of us tend to prepare for parenting by thinking about our own parents, and choosing to either replicate or reject their methods. While t