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Browse published articles attributed to Laurie Gray, with full-archive search.
In Hamlet Shakespeare asked the most famous question in all literature: “To be or not to be?” The answer to that and to all of our questions lies in the first person present tense of to be: I AM. When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and told him to deliver the Israelites out of ...
Parenting isn't about having all the answers. It's about helping children learn to think for themselves and rediscovering yourself and the world through the eyes of your child. Socratic Parenting focuses on knowing yourself, knowing your child, and becoming the change you wish to see in your child. In order to develop their own authentic parenting style, parents must honestly examine their own habits and beliefs while building a healthy relationship with their children. Parents are never any better at disciplining their children than they are at disciplining themselves.
“You are the noblest, the gentlest and the best man who has ever come here,” said the jailer to Socrates. The jailer had guarded Socrates for a month following his trial. A jury of 501 men found Socrates guilty of corrupting youth by teaching them to question everything and to think for themselves. The jury sentenced Socrates to death. At the appointed time, the jailer brought a poisonous hemlock drink to Socrates.
Socratic Living embraces the method of self-inquiry introduced by Socrates, the wisest man in Ancient Greece. Socrates approached life with curiosity and wonder. He accepted himself and questioned everything around him. Rather than assuming he knew anything, he approached everything and everyone with an openness that invites wisdom and understanding.
The city of Delphi was in the center of Ancient Greece. Delphi means “navel” as in “belly button” as if this were the center of the universe where human life somehow connected with the source of wisdom, the way a baby is connected to her mother before she’s born. There was a temple of Apollo in Delphi with a priestess known as the “Delphic Oracle” where people went to ask their questions and seek wisdom.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28 (New King James Version) As human beings we grow up perceiving the world around us as a structured system of competing dualities. We are either male or female, free or enslaved, Christian or non-Christian. Every action is judged as good or bad, with an emphasis on being good. Aren’t we all taught that we should do the right thing? Isn’t “doing good” the best anyone can do?
There’s an old urban legend that if you put a frog in a pot of boiling water, he’ll naturally hop out; however, if you place a frog in a pot of cool water and gradually increase the heat, you’ll end up with a cooked frog. I can’t say whether this is true for frogs, but it certainly is true for many children who are sexually molested. The gradual cooking process is known as “grooming,” and the increased heat is the evaporation of physical and emotional boundaries.
Gratitude has completely transformed my life. There was a traditional blessing often recited as I was growing up that said, “For what we have and what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly grateful.” Yet I never understood what it meant to be truly grateful. I confused gratitude with a sense of obligation—something I owed to someone who had done me a favor. Like Jonathon Edwards, I was a sinner in the hands of an angry God. There was always an underlying sense that things could be much worse, and I should thank God that they are not.
Most of us have grown up with some version of the Golden Rule that includes doing unto others as you would have them do to you and loving your neighbor as yourself. Most of us think of the rule as encouraging us to be kinder to others. Such thinking is completely backward. We already do love our neighbors as ourselves. The problem is that most of us have never learned to love ourselves and to see ourselves as a source of love.
One of my jobs as a deputy prosecuting atto ey was to review cases of sexual assault, determine what crime (if any) had been committed, and assess the likelihood that we would be able to prove every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. While the specific laws are different in each state, every sex crime requires either a lack of consent on the part of the victim or the use of force on the part of the perpetrator. Too often people think that “without consent” is the same as “by force,” but that is not true in a legal sense.
There were times during the weeks that followed my daughter’s birth that she would cry, and I would wonder why. She was warm and dry and well-fed, but she still cried. I remember holding her in my arms and rocking her and suddenly realizing that she missed the security of my womb. She wanted to crawl right back up inside me where she was completely protected from the world and all of its chaos. But she had boarded a train bound for independence and there was no turning back.
Every night before she goes to sleep, my six-year-old places a Token of Change™ on her forehead and affirms, “I am grateful. I am kind. I create what’s on my mind. Perfect health… Prosperity… My world reflects the change in me.” If you ask her what prosperity means, she’ll tell you, ...
“For what we have and what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly grateful.”n --Traditional grace before meals What does it mean to be truly grateful? On the one hand, gratitude may arise out of a feeling of obligation for a favor shown; on the other, gratitude may reflect a ...
“And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” --Matthew 1:23 (KJV) The Christmas story is one of light, love and joy—the light of the star, the love inspired by a precious child, and the joy of hope ete al. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, we light Advent candles representing hope, peace, love and joy. We move from a season of gratitude into a celebration that the Christ is born within us and God is with us. We celebrate the spirit of Christmas.