Yes, this is a good day to spread joy!

You must first, however, feel joyous yourself.

How do you do that?

By simply counting your blessings.

Have you ever actually sat down and counted all the blessings in your life?

Well, this is as good a time as any.

Reach out to loved ones and thank them for the blessing they are in your life..

Also reach out to someone who hasn’t heard from you recently or not for a long time.

Let them know you are thinking of them and that you consider them a blessing.

Also, remind them to count their blessings.

Today, your glass is half full, not half empty.

If we want a more pleasant society, we must become more pleasant ourselves.

How about a crazy idea?

How about spreading joy everyday?

Why not, we have so many blessings.

If not today, when?

Oh, HAPPY EASTER!

They say that it is that type of love which has NO BOUNDS and is UNCHANGING. (Wikipedia)

I would like to add REGARDLESS OF EVENTS.

Do you still love people who have hurt you?

If so, you are practicing the most GENUINE form of unconditional love!

As difficult as it is to practice, we must aspire to be a person who loves unconditionally.

We are flawed creatures and everyone we love is likewise.

Because of their flaws, many people may not be able to earn your love.

I don’t think unconditional love has to be earned, just granted.

I have been betrayed by various people. I struggle to still love them and wish them well.

Love is a much lighter load than hate.

Forgiveness is a lighter load than carrying a grudge.

Let us strive to love unconditionally!

If not today, when?

Why do we call today GOOD FRIDAY?

What’s good about it?

It is a day that comes around every year to commemorate the death of an innocent man.

Not only was He innocent, He made the world A BETTER PLACE!

He made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the leper to be cleansed and He brought hope to the hopeless.

He preached love by saying, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

How does a man like that end up nailed to a tree?

It was crazy!

Speaking of crazy, how about today’s nationwide movement to remove the voting rights of poor people?

Removing voting rights is the death knell of our democracy.

Do we just sit here and watch it happen?

Aren’t we forgetting all the young men who ran onto and remain on Omaha Beach defending our democracy?

Nailed to a tree. Really?

In yesterday’s blog, I proposed a list of ideas intended to give you some approaches to parenting that may, hopefully, benefit you and your family.

There was a huge response for which I’m most grateful.

How do you fight misinformation? The Internet and rampant, deliberate misinformation can discolor your child’s perceptions. If your family has at least one meal together each day, use that captive audience to ask your kids about their beliefs on a range of issues. Tell them what you believe and why.

A recent Gallup Poll says church membership is down to 50% from its 70% high. Do you still have faith in God and do you share your faith with your children? Navigating this world is made even more difficult without faith.

Despite all your challenges, do you take time for FAMILY FUN? Your family should be your children’s most important TRIBE. They also may have a group at school and perhaps an online group. Creating some fun time together is just another way to keep your family as your kids’ primary influencer.

Do your kids admire you and the way you live your life? You can become a powerful mentor to your children if they respect you and your choices.

If not today, when?

Despite the fact that we are parents of a large family, I don’t pretend to be an expert.

Please permit me, however, to share some thoughts.

YOUR ACTIONS MUST MATCH YOUR WORDS! In other words, are you believable? You can’t say you are going to do something and then do nothing or do the opposite.

DON”T PLAY FAVORITES! Let’s face it. Some kids are easier to raise than others. If, however, the troublemaker senses that you like another child more, his/her behavior will get worse.

INVITE THEIR FRIENDS TO YOUR HOUSE! Peer pressure is your enemy. Unless you have met their closest friends, you don’t know what you’re up against.

YOU CAN”T WOBBLE ON DISCIPLINE! If they break your rules, there must be an immediate and proportionate price to pay.

YOUR HOME MUST BE A HAVEN! Your kids live in a chaotic world once they step outside the front door. When re-entering your home, however, it must be a place where they can feel loved and safe.

More rules tomorrow!

There are many millions of fellow citizens in our midst who awaken each morning to a life of suffering.

It never goes away.

You and I know them.

Do we reach out or do we look the other way?

It’s a choice we all make every day.

During this pandemic, we see FINANCIAL SUFFERING on an unprecedented massive scale.

It has hit employees, employers, tenants and their landlords.

The stress caused by the pandemic is also causing great MENTAL SUFFERING.

EMOTIONAL SUFFERING is rampant caused by family and friends who have died from the virus.

And there are those among us who must endure lifelong PHYSICAL SUFFERING.

So, there you have it. These are today’s realities.

We are all capable of loving the SUFFERER.

Will you, can you, won’t you look not away, but toward the SUFFERERS you know?

If not today, when?

After 57 very happy years of living with the love of my life, I have a few suggestions.

DON’T bring up some problem from the past. The past belongs in the past.

DO approach your marriage as a true partnership in which each person contributes.

DON’T, however, keep a count of who has done what.

DO say PLEASE and THANK YOU! Good manners should not just be extended to strangers.

DO Thank God that your partner is spending his/her life with you and your various shortcomings.

DON’T disagree in public. Disagreements should be addressed in private.

DO give compliments. Your partner can’t read your mind. Tell him/her when they’ve done something praiseworthy.

DO remain faithful. You made a promise.

DO agree on the values you will teach and expect from your children.

DO remember that wonderful, true saying, “A happy wife means a happy life!”

DON’T criticize your partner. You’re not perfect either.

DO EXPRESS YOUR LOVE THROUGHOUT YOUR MARRIAGE!

A shooting in the area of Marlowe and Midland streets in Detroit left one man dead and two injured after a confrontation turned deadly Thursday. 

The shooting occurred around 7:50 p.m. Detroit police said two men, 25 and 32, confronted another man, 37, for allegedly assaulting their sister. 

The confrontation turned into a shootout, and all three men were shot, according to a police news release. Police said the 32-year-old man died at the scene. (Detroit Free Press)

The parents of the allegedly assaulted daughter now also have a dead 32 year old son and a 25 year old son lying critically wounded in the hospital.

This is not the first time we’ve heard about “street justice.”

And it won’t be the last..

The results of this incident are catastrophic for that family.

We must be a society of laws and adherence to those laws.

If not today, when?

As we know, parenting is not as easy as a walk in the park.

Hardly!

One of those difficult events is when our kids decide to live elsewhere.

Our first impulse is to think of ourselves and how we will miss them.

It begs the question, “Why did we want children?”

Was it for our gratification or was it to realize the ultimate manifestation of our love for one another?

And once a child is born of that love, does the child live for us or do we live for the child?

Since we and God brought this child into the world, I think it is the latter.

As they begin making adult decisions, we must set them free to decide their future.

Kahlil Gibran: “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.”

A good parent is a GIVER not a TAKER!

When they move away, we will give them unqualified support!

If not today, when?

Billionaire couple Dan and Jennifer Gilbert are committing $500 million over the next decade into neighborhoods across Detroit — starting with $15 million to eliminate property tax debt for as many as 20,000 Detroit homeowners.

Housing experts say the $15 million, called the Detroit Tax Relief Fund, will make a big dent in preventing homes from going into foreclosure. Tax foreclosure has long been a driver of blight throughout the city, a problem exacerbated by inflated tax assessments and a lack of awareness of the city’s property tax exemption.

Gilbert on Thursday described the problems of blight and back tax debt as “massive and contagious.” 

“But it’s not the properties we were most concerned about. It’s the people who live in them.” (freep.com)

Gilbert is the owner of Rocket Mortgage, The Cleveland Cavaliers and hundreds of other businesses.

This is a terrific story of a powerful, rich couple reaching out to the poorest in the City of Detroit to help them keep their modest homes.

Are you wealthy?

Take this great example shown here and reach out to the “Least of my Brethren!”

If not today, WHEN?