Parenting changed for me when I finally realized it's not about being a perfect parent trying to raise perfect kids, but rather, family life is a collection of sinners slowly growing together toward Jesus Christ as we rub shoulders, yield to his grace, ask for forgiveness and offer forgiveness, and are shaped accordingly.

Any mature, spiritually sensitive view of marriage must be built on the foundation of mature love rather than romanticism. But this immediately casts us into a countercultural pursuit.

Ideally, as parents we'd have unlimited energy, the ability to manage tricky emotions like fear and anger, vast stores of wisdom to answer complicated but important questions, love that never grows tired, patience that never ends... Every parent would like to have all of these, but God alone possesses them fully. Parenting reminded me of what I lacked more than it ever made me feel equipped. But there's a spiritual purpose in that!

Couples don't fall out of love so much as they fall out of repentance.

A good marriage isn't something you find; it's something you make.

The older I get the more I realize that a significant portion of a parent's happiness or sadness in middle-age will be directly impacted by how closely our children are walking with the Lord.

A defeatist attitude kills almost as many marriages as do affairs.