Author: gabriel

As I count my blessings each day, the love of family and friends is always at the top of my list. Connection is why we’re here! It’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives. Strip away all the hoopla and everything is about love and relationships. Brennan Manning said,…

Have you ever gotten what you wanted and discovered it wasn’t what you needed? We become discontent when we blur the distinction between a need and a want. So what’s the difference between a ‘want’ and a ‘need’? A need refers to anything that sustains our overall well-being and fosters…

For us to connect with people and build strong relationships, we must allow ourselves to be seen—really seen. That can put us in a position of excruciating vulnerability. We’re designed to give each other comfort and support, to open our hearts to the people we love. Yet in our relationships,…

Do you have a close friend? Not someone to call for lunch but I mean a genuine close friend. The kind of friend you let your hair down with and who feel like brothers and sisters. These are the people you call first when something important happens, those you love…

The most natural desire we have, is to feel needed and loved. All human behavior can be seen as either ‘love’, which obviously calls for love to be returned, or as a ‘call for love’. So we do whatever we can to win that love from others. Sometimes it works,…

God not only shaped you uniquely, but He also planned every single day of your life to support that shaping process. This means that nothing in your life is insignificant. Our lives are the sum total of the choices we have made. Therefore, if you are in a certain circumstance,…

We are conditioned to believe that everything must, in some way, be about us. But understanding that every person we meet is always and only acting from their own level of consciousness in the moment—based on whatever thoughts they’re having at the time—is critical. Others not only shouldn’t see things…

We can’t choose how or when we die, but we can choose how we live. Difficult situations often expose strengths we didn’t even know we had. If we don’t intentionally choose how to live our lives, we’re actually choosing to let our lives be driven by circumstances. Everything in our…

How can anyone feel appreciated when their loved one is wishing or hoping for them to change? The greatest roadblock to a great relationship is trying to force a partner to change through bribes or threats. This classic human tendency is humorously portrayed in the long-running off-Broadway musical comedy I…

The two hardest things to say in life are hello for the first time and goodbye for the last. No one knows the exact moment when a friendship is formed, but it is that silent, forgotten moment that causes the pain when we must say goodbye. All we have is…