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All of the following are by members of the Goodman Family

The Pause That Truly Refreshes
How is it possible to find time to meditate in our busy lives? Is it really possible to hold still long enough to think — without getting distracted or falling asleep?
By Steve and Claudia Goodman 

Let them Help
The youth had come through again. All they need is an idea and someone to believe in them, and they can soar to unbelievable heights.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

“Mother — Always There”
One repetition does not complete a task any more effectively than saying a word once teaches children to talk, or saying a single prayer keeps them close to God. Someone needs to follow through again and again on the small things.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

“Out of Our Hearts We Paid the Cost”
For each of us there are times when we must show just how much we are willing to pay for the things that mean most to us.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

Selecting the Gospel as Your Automatic Default
How do we keep the fire of the gospel burning bright day after day when nothing of much consequence seems to be happening?
By Steve and Claudia Goodman 

A Lesson from the Fireflies
As we strive to find the good in others and make it an extension of our own efforts to serve, rather than being threatened by it, we will help our children to do likewise.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

Finding Peace at Christmas
One thing that has helped us is trying hard to finish all Christmas preparations by December 23rd, so that all day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are reserved for family.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

“I Had Myself a Wound Concealed”
When you are hurting the most, get outside of yourself and help someone else. You can always find someone to help, and when you do, you forget your own sorrow.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

Staying on Course
One of the greatest challenges in life is learning to be happy with ourselves the way we are.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

“Go Forward and not Backward: Courage…and on, on to the Victory!”
In their glee to expose every tiny shortcoming and punish it to the max, are there those who are forgetting a few basic principles?  The past is already past.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

Little Things That Make A Big Difference
Here's a series of stories that will brighten your day, and show the importance of the little gesture, the kind word, the meaningful moment.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

"All Girls are Princesses"
In today’s sophisticated, materialistic world, it is easy to lose sight of the divine calling of women and the respect that is due every daughter of God.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

Replacing Substitutes for the Savior - With Him
How different would our lives be if we really did take the sacrament to heart "to always remember him" who is mighty to save?
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

Making the Sabbath a Delight
Here's a springboard of ideas to help each of us use the Sabbath to more fully delight in the Lord.
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

MAYONNAISE OR MIRACLE WHIP? Living in Harmony with Differences
He wants Miracle Whip and she wants Mayo. Is this grounds for divorce or an opportunity to grow?
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

The Timeless Christmas Story
The Christmas story is a story that only grows brighter through the years, a story people never tire of hearing and reliving.
By Claudia Goodman

Give It Time
In an age of instant gratification we often also expect instant resolutions to life's bumps and bruises. Perhaps all we need to just 'give it time.'
By Claudia Goodman

Standing Up For Ourselves
Have you ever felt like somebody else was trying to control you? It is probably because they were. How do you learn to stand up for yourself?
By Claudia Goodman

Just A Mother
One of two roles closest to that of the Savior's own mission, is that of mother. A righteous mother's touch affects the eternities.
By Claudia Goodman

Getting Children to Mind
How do we get our children to mind us? That has to be the ultimate $64,000 dollar question. Claudia Goodman shares her insights on common pitfalls of parenting and how to help disobedient children.


Focusing on Life’s Simple Pleasures

You don't pay for the best things in life with a credit card.

Eternal Measuring Sticks
One of the delights of life is watching newborn babies and young children awaken to the world around them. Completely oblivious to outside expectations, they grow and learn at an unprecedented pace, secure in their own worth and ability to succeed. Yet, as we mature it is easy for us to become trapped in a web of manmade standards that leave us feeling that we just don’t measure up.

Paying the Price
It is difficult for our children to comprehend the price that was paid for them to live in a free land.

Just "DO IT"
No matter what question the teacher asks in a church class, we generally give the same answers: pray, keep the commandments, and study the scriptures. If studying the scriptures is really that important, why do so few of us actually do it?

A Safety Net for Moral Purity
In order for our youth to keep the commandments of the Lord without the least bit of deviation, it is imperative for us to help them create a safety net by adding commandments or guidelines of their own.

Turning Mistakes Into Stepping-Stones
Perhaps one of the greatest gifts we can give our children is to help them understand this great truth: "It doesn’t matter who’s right, it just matters what’s right.”

"Love Is Letting Go"
As time moved on, I came to realize more and more that although love definitely is holding on, more and more, love is also letting go.

In-Laws: Your Other Parents
How can married couples deal with their in-laws?

Our Journals?Writings of the Heart
With recent evacuations from fires on my mind, I found myself asking, ?What would I take with me besides my family?? and I asked my Laurel class the same question.? The most immediate answer for most of them was, ?My journals.? Why is that?

Respecting Personal Space
Family members need supervision, but it is equally important for each of us to have our own personal space, where we can handle things ourselves, experiment with new ideas, and try things on our own.

Holding Down the Fort
Today’s culture is bent on convincing mothers to focus on their own careers and themselves first and foremost.

Hymns Unlock the Windows of Heaven
We all recognize the vast power of music as the universal language. We can be working in the other room during a TV show or video and know almost precisely what is happening without ever hearing a word or seeing a picture, because of the music playing in the background. Music of all kinds has a profound effect upon our lives; however, this article will focus on using the hymns to bless our homes.

Teaching Reverence from Birth: "Suffer Little Children to Come Unto Me"
While it's true that some children are simply easier to manage than others, it is also true that some families seem to have a better success ratio in getting their children to sit quietly during sacrament meeting. Is there a magic formula to teach children reverence?

Family Reunion Fun!
Following is a list of general guidelines that have helped our family have successful reunions.

Making Your Family Your Best Friends
The Proclamation on the Family tells us, ?Parents have a sacred duty?to teach [their children] to love and serve one another.? Anyone who has been a parent knows that it takes a lot more than telling children to ?love each other? and ?be nice? to make it all happen. It takes a lifetime of dedicated effort and example, repeated over and over again. And most of all, it takes spending time together.

A Sure Defense in Troubled Times: How to Invite the Holy Ghost into Our Homes
We vowed that if we taught our children nothing else, we would do all in our power to help them develop a personal relationship with the Holy Ghost. Over many years of trying to meet that goal again and again with each child, we have discovered several principles that have helped us.

Believing in Others
No matter what happens to any of us in life, if we know someone believes in us, if we know someone loves us, we can go on. In turn we can make such a difference in other people's lives if we only believe in them.

Divide and Conquer
August has been a busy month as we have moved from Utah to Arizona. During the past few hectic weeks, I have thought many times of a story that changed my life. It was just a quiet article featured in the middle section of the newspaper about twenty-five years ago, and although I read it with interest, I never considered saving it. Little did I know how heavily I would draw on its message again and again.

Talk About It
Everyone knows that at the root of almost every broken friendship or marriage is a lack of communication. Yet how often do we feel clueless when it comes to talking things through? For most of us, the big question is "Where do we start?"

Father: Guardian upon the Watchtower
In a day when harsh voices insist that women are all powerful and totally self-sufficient, many are led to believe that they don't need men. They insist that the role of fathers is redundant and obsolete, that men are merely appendages to the family. The father's presence in the home is so vital and all-encompassing that families who have lost their fathers must do everything in their power to compensate for them.

Time Out for Mother
For many, Mother's Day brings mixed emotions-joy for the privilege of being a mother interspersed with poignancy for all the areas where they fail to meet their self-imposed standards.

Grandparents' Legacy of Love
Why were the cords that pulled us there so strong?

Unleashing Imagination
Children have no end of imagination, and what a priceless gift it is.

Kindling and Rekindling Romantic Love
What says "I love you" when you're dating? What continues to say it in deeper ways after you're married? Join in the Goodman family's roundtable discussion on the little ways you can learn to be a sweetheart.

Can't Do It All At Once
We live in a world of instant success—instant breakfast, instant mashed potatoes, instant playback, instant weight loss, instant relief, and instant winners. But with all these things at our fingertips, no one has ever created an instant family.

Finding Peace: During the Christmas Rush
"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." —D&C 64:33

 

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