Guidelines For Living Devotional

Don’t Waste A Wake-Up Call!

"Wake-up calls" is the term applied to them--those close brushes with death which may come by being a participant in a near-fatal car crash, a heart attack, being a passenger on a plane which is hijacked, or waking to the smell of smoke in your house, or about anything when you know that death stalked you but you didn't fall prey to its grasp.

Discover The Disciplined Power Of “No”

The word that a parent uses most often when there is a toddler in the house is, "No!" and the expression that kids use is, "Why can't I?" not really listening for an explanation.  The word "No" draws the lines of battle.  And that line is intact from the cradle to the grave.  The reality is that a lot of life is circumscribed by the negative prohibition, "No!" 

What Your Words Say About You

"I have just heard your commentary about the tongue," wrote a listener.  This friend added, "I am one of those who … is brutally frank.  I know the truth is bitter, but my greatest defect is to tell a person what wrong he has done which he ought not to do.  Is it unchristian?"  It's amazing to me how many folks such as the woman who wrote feel compelled to point out people's flaws.

How To Have A Great Conversation

On November 2, 1863, several months after the battle of Gettysburg, David Wills, a local judge and prominent Pennsylvania citizen, invited Abraham Lincoln to make a "few appropriate remarks" at the consecration of a cemetery for the Union war dead.  Edward Everett, then the young nation’s foremost northern orator, had been invited to speak on September 23, but Everett needed more time for preparation so fate put both of the men on the same program on November 19, 1863.

Why Is It So Hard For Us To Communicate?

Anyone who has ever written anything for publication was undoubtedly amused when they read the quote of the actress Alicia Silverstone, who was commenting on the film in which she starred, "Clueless."  The British-based Plain English Campaign has awarded her their Foot in Mouth Award for saying, "I think that [the film] 'Clueless' was very deep.  I think it was deep in the way that it was very light.  I think lightness has to come from a very deep place if it's true lightness."  Right!  Whatever that means.

5 Guidelines To Having A Great Conversation

Speaking in public and talking in private are not the same at all.  There are people who are great public speakers.  They motivate, they inspire, they move people to tears and incite them to storm the ramparts, but talk to the same person one-on-one and it’s like trying to get a dead fish to swim, or a corpse to tell you how he feels.

Here’s How To Get Your Message Across

Men and women have always had difficulty communicating, and now we know why--at least, to a very small degree.  It's a proven fact that women listen with both sides of their brains, men primarily with one side.  But what we've known for ages is still true: though it may be a challenge, it can be done.  I am convinced that communication is the key to any relationship, whether it is your marriage, getting along with your neighbor, or succeeding in business.

Are Men And Women Really That Different?

"My husband just doesn't get it," a wife complains.  Often she is right, and she has scientific evidence to back up her allegation.  Scientists using a modified MRI have taken pictures of both male and female brains that prove--Are you ready for this?--that women use both sides of their brains when they listen, and men use only one side.

When Your Dream Dies

"Dear Dr. Sala, where was God when my dream died?  I thought I could trust Him.  Now I'm not sure!"  No, you were not the one who wrote those words, but chances are those thoughts have at some time or another risen from your troubled heart, whether you voiced them aloud or just thought them.

Are You Living In Yesterday, Today Or Tomorrow?

When I was a kid in school, I found myself constantly thinking about tomorrow--what I intended to do as soon as I could get out of the classroom and get moving.  The young often dream of tomorrow, thinking of what they are going to do, and the old often focus on yesterday--what they have done.  You know the attitude, "The older I am, the better I was!"  With each telling of the story, the fish gets bigger or the hero gets braver.