Category: Parenting

  • Theology Lessons from a Three-Year-Old

    Theology Lessons from a Three-Year-Old

    If meat and potatoes are comfort food, then spending time with my grandchildren is soul food —  in more ways than one.  You finally understand why  the word “grandchildren” includes the letters g-r-a-n-d.  Watching them sleep redefines the word precious.  And listening to their observations of the universe makes you want to fall on your…

  • Praying for Dead Birds

    My youngest grandson, Luke, has been spending some time with his Nonni and Poppy this Spring. He is three and a half years old, going on thirty. He is at that stage where seemingly every question begins with “why,” his favorite exclamation is “Mine,” and every sentence includes the word “exactly” — as in “Poppy,…

  • What A Caddie Taught Me About Encouragement

    What A Caddie Taught Me About Encouragement

    This past week I was invited to play a round of golf at East Lake Golf Club in Decatur, Georgia.  East Lake is no ordinary club.  It’s the site of the Tour Championship, the culminating event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedEx Cup. More importantly, it was also the home course for golfing…

  • We All Need A Ninja Zone

    I rarely visit any of my grandchildren when this Poppy does not come away with some new life lessons.  A few years ago, one of my grandfather therapy sessions (i.e., babysitting) with three of my grandsons provided a prime example of the insights available to anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear.…

  • My Imaginary Friend Did It

    My Imaginary Friend Did It

    My three-year-old grandson ran down the hallway, dashed into our master bedroom, and took refuge in his favorite hiding place – a spot behind my LazyBoy rocking chair.  Having just knocked something over in our living room, he knew the noise would bring Poppy to see what havoc his rambunctiousness had wrought. Young Luke sought…

  • A Teachable Moment

    It was November 2000 when my twenty-something-year-old daughter, who shall remain anonymous, called me in tears.  On her way to a concert in Atlanta, she had been stopped not once, but twice, by the police — an amazing feat I hoped that neither she, nor any of her four siblings, would ever repeat.   I…

  • Dads Are Always Going To Be Dads

    Dads Are Always Going To Be Dads

    Newsflash, dads are always going to be dads.  Just ask Jordan Spieth.  Jordan Spieth, 27,  is one of the more popular young professional golfers on the PGA Tour.  A three-time Majors Champion, and winner of 14 professional tournaments, Spieth is known as one of the nicest guys to play the game.  Mothers want to adopt…

  • Fight Like A Girl

    Fight Like A Girl

    As a ten-year-old boy, being told that I threw a ball like a girl was the ultimate insult.  Adolescents can be cruel with their verbal barbs.  For a young pubescent male, doing anything “like a girl” was akin to being called a sissy.  But today, a phrase like “Fight Like A Girl” carries a new…

  • A Grand Day

    A Grand Day

    Since 1978, the first Sunday after Labor Day has been designated National Grandparents Day.  The primary intention being the recognition of the importance of seniors and the contributions they have made. Being a grandfather many times over has proven to be every bit the joy I expected.  I agree with one pundit who confessed, “If…

  • The Most Successful Man I Ever Knew

    On this Father’s Day 2020, I thought I might share a reflection about my Dad. A couple of weeks before my Dad passed away in August of 2005, I had the opportunity to sit with him in his hospital room and talk, one-on-one.  We talked about his health, about family, and about faith.   He…