February is known for cold weather, presidents’ birthdays and Cupid’s delight.

Love, sex and amorous relationships have dominated the news over the past year.  Not every culture is as comfortable as ours is with public displays of affection.  In one Malaysian state, laws ban total darkness in movie theaters “to prevent immoral acts like kissing, cuddling and other activities,” as one official explained it. Public kissing there usually rates a $70 fine.

In Venezuela, extended public kissing and embracing can get you arrested. “If you kiss for more than five seconds, the police will grab you,” complained one young woman whose friends were jailed. “It’s ridiculous,” groused a 24-year-old man. “Whoever invented this law must not have a girlfriend.”

Defining immoral kisses can be difficult admitted one policeman, but “when you see it, you should know it.” (Has he been reading U.S. Supreme Court decisions?)

Kids often have unique insights into adults’ urge to merge. A friend passed along a list from the Internet of children’s answers to questions about love.

What do people do on a date? Lynnette (age 8): “Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.”

Martin (age 10) sees the bottom line: “On the first date, they just tell each other lies, and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.”

When is it OK to kiss someone? Pam (7): “When they’re rich!” Curt (7): “The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn’t want to mess with that.”  Howard (8): “The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them….It’s the right thing to do.”

How does one decide whom to marry? Allan (10): “You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dips coming.” Allan may find it prudent to slightly revise that theory in a few years.

This season pundits ponder, “What is genuine love?” Popular speaker Josh McDowell delineates three kinds of love that can inform kids’ (and adults’) attitudes: love if, love because of, and love period.   Love if and because of are based on personality or performance: “I love you if you go out with me, if you have a good sense of humor, if you sleep with me. I love you because you’re attractive, intelligent or athletic.”

But the best kind of love says, “I love you period: even with your weaknesses, even if you change, even if someone better looking comes along. I love you even if you have zoo-breath in the morning. I want to give myself to you.”

Paul, an early Christian writer, eloquently described this unconditional love:   “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.   Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. …Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever.”

Committed unconditional love could probably heal many romantic rifts. Solid spiritual roots that help produce it can help undergird stable relationships. And the children have noticed that families and adult relationships can use some strengthening.

How can a stranger tell if two people are married? Derrick (8): By “whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.” And how would the world be different if people didn’t get married? Kelvin (8): “There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn’t there?

What does love look like in your life? If it’s more heartache than roses, come talk to a mentor.

Take the next step:

What’s your love language?
The language of love
What does God have to do with love?

“The lazy person is full of excuses, saying, “If I go outside, I might meet a lion in the street and be killed!”” Proverbs 22:13, NLT

It’s rare to find people today who are willing to take complete responsibility for their actions. In the victimization that’s present in our culture, our problems are always someone else’s fault.

You can blame whoever you want – the government, your parents, the school you went to, television, your boss, or the rest of society. There’s no need for you to feel bad; anywhere you look there are people to blame.

Sometimes our excuses are quite humorous. Consider these actual statements given to insurance companies by people involved in car accidents:

“In my attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole!”
“Coming home, I drove into the wrong driveway and hit a tree I don’t have.”
“The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.”
“I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment.”
“I was on the way to the doctor’s office with rear-end trouble when my universal joint gave way, causing me to having an accident.”
“I had been driving my car for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.”
“The telephone poll was approaching fast. I attempted to swerve out of its path when it struck my front end.”
“The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him!”

Silly? Yes. But so are some of the excuses we offer, instead of taking responsibility for our mistakes, failures, and sins.

The Bible says, “The lazy person is full of excuses” (Proverbs 22:13, NLT). Ben Franklin once observed, “The person who is good at excuse-making is seldom good at anything else.”

Question: What excuses can you remember yourself using in the past week? Are they valid, or merely excuses? And even if valid, should these things be enough to keep you from living out your faith in the world?

It’s pretty hard to ignore that the World Cup is happening right now.

If you’re looking for a small dose of World Cup action, vuvuzelas included, check out this video from legofussball.eu . The creator Fabian Moritz has done a brilliant job capturing the key moments form the England vs the United States game which resulted in a tie (I’m told this was very surprising.)

Watch the clip, you’ll be glad you did! (And tomorrow at the office you can sagely nod when someone mentions how FIFA should have banned vuvuzelas. They’re totally ruining the game!)

An entire World Cup game reduced to just a couple of minutes – perfect. Do you ever wish you could zip through parts of your life in fast forward? Try our free life lesson Finding Contentment. You might already be living your dream life.

June (aka “the wedding month”) is only a few months away.

John Shore’s blog post “Embrace Your Wrongness, and 9 Other Tips For Becoming a Better Husband” lists ten humorous yet insightful tips for becoming a better husband. Some of my favorites include:

- Embrace your wrongness. In the course of disagreeing with our wives, what many of we men fail to realize is that, invariably, we’re wrong. We just are. We’re trying to be right — but failing. We can’t help it. It’s the nature of things. Men are bigger, hairier, stronger, and wronger. It’s a fact we should just get used to. God knows our wives have.

- Actually have opinions. Women like men who are clear on what they think, and why they think it. Men, though, enjoy ever waffling. Well, waffles are for kids. Stop it. Commit to thoughts, ideas, and decisions. Sure, you’ll be wrong about whatever it is you decide to think. But you’ll be attractively wrong. Wrong, but studly. That’s the American way.

- Get okay with being late. Women have an internal guide that tells them which things it’s okay to be late for, and which things it’s not. Unfortunately, that guide is written in ancient Venusian. You don’t read ancient Venusian. You don’t read any Venusian. Invest in a hand-held DVD player.

See his entire list for the rest! If you have tips you’d like to contribute please share with us in the comments.

Free Ebook: If any brides-to-be are reading this, you might be interested in our free ebook, “Reflections for a Bride“! (Husbands-to-be, forward that link to your special lady!)

If you are getting married, but are feeling anxious or scared and need someone to talk with, contact an online mentor today to talk privately & confidentially via email. Both men and women mentors are available and you will be matched up with someone who is familiar with the kind of issues you’re going through.

“A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life.” Proverbs 14:30 (LB)

Did you know that people who laugh live longer? It’s true. Proverbs 14:30 says, “A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life.” (LB)

Humor is an amazing thing. It’s a tension dissolver. It’s an antidote to anxiety. It’s just like a tranquilizer, but without any troublesome side-effects. And it’s free! You don’t even need a prescription.

Laughter is life’s shock absorber. If you want to have less stress in your life, learn to laugh at your circumstances.

Someone once asked U.S. President Abraham Lincoln how he handled all the stresses of the Civil War. He said, “If it hadn’t been for laughter, I could not have made it.”

Many famous comedians grew up in poor neighborhoods with lots of problems. They coped with their troubles by learning to laugh and making others laugh.

So learn to laugh. If you can laugh at it, you can live with it. And besides, if you learn to laugh at your troubles, you’ll never run out of anything to laugh at! Life is full of funny situations. The cowboy comedian Will Rogers once said, “I don’t know any jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.”

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 2:4, “The One enthroned in heaven laughs.” (NIV) Isn’t that a great verse? God has a sense of humor. God laughs!

Have you ever seen the face of an orangutan? God thought that one up! That proves he has a sense of humor. Do you want to be more like God? Learn to laugh.

Question: When is humor appropriate, and when is it inappropriate, and why?

About this Author: Rick Warren

Currently the voting is down to six finalists, and one of those finalist videos was created by Mosaic, a church in Los Angeles, pastored by Erwin McManus, author of Soul Cravings which we have featured in our iCraveChange area of our website. They’ve even created a special website to encourage people to vote for their ad, although voting is now closed.

Here’s the commercial:

On certain conservative blogs, McManus and his church were criticized for this commercial. Not only calling it “utterly tasteless”, but also criticizing how the church’s membership and the platform of the pulpit have been used to promote it.

It should be clear enough that the commercial isn’t intended to preach; it highlights the skills of some members of the Mosaic community who conceived of it and created it. And it’s meant to be funny. Is it okay for Christians to spend our time working on creative projects just for fun? Not at the expense of the gospel, but along with it? Isn’t it a good thing to be able to say to the world, “Yes, Christians are as funny and smart and talented as you are.’?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

More on the Super Bowl:
- Super Bowl XLIV: Dare to Dream – There is something inside us that hopes for the unlikely, the impossible, and the miraculous.
- Another Super Bowl Ad Controversy – This one involves an ad that celebrates family and life. What could be wrong with that?

Reduce Stress & Chaos this Holiday

The holidays always seem to cause us to throw budgetary caution to the wind. If you’re hoping for the gift of more time with your family during the holidays — take heart.

Consulting this list of 20 tips, and checking it twice, will help you keep your holiday stress to a minimum and enjoy the season with your children and family. > Read more

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Featured article: Give water this year for Christmas – Help Dig a Well to Change Lives!

You said it: Karen commented on the Help My Fragile Faith women’s devotional, saying: “Right now I am out of a job and looking for work which seems almost impossible to me but then when I read my bible and I know that God is going to meet my needs (because he says that he will) not my desires but my needs.”
Subscribe to the Men’s or Women’s Daily Devotional email newsletter

Blog: Have a Meaningful Christmas
In this video our editors explore how to make this Christmas a memorable and meaningful one. > Read more

Holiday Feature: Humor: Remembering Happy Holidays
Phil Callaway: When they were little they pounced on me at 4am, jarring me from slumber. “Let’s open the gifts,” they’d holler. “Hey,” I’d say, trying to remember where I was, “It’s December 4th …” > Read more

Coming up next week: One of the topics of our upcoming online chats is “Carols of Christmas: We Three Kings” Join us in the chat room December 6th 2009 @ 9:00pm EST for this chat, and check our full chat calendar for other upcoming topics.

Why we send Kids to Camp
When I was eleven years young, my parents sent me to Loose Moose Bible Camp as a prize for memorizing Scripture verses like “Be ye kind one to another.” I was beaten up twice that week by Bruce Johnson, the meanest kid this side of Harlem. Bruce had wrists as big as my thighs and tattoos the size of Bermuda. He was so unsaved that he couldn’t even sing along on “Kumba Ya.” Read the full article.

Take action: Is this summer the time you decide to rekindle the romance in your marriage? Try our Rekindle the Romance online interactive life lesson!

You said it: This week Michelle Cramer shared on the Singleness of Heart and Action women’s devotional, saying “I needed to be reminded of this today. I’ve started receiving email devotionals b/c its the first step in MAKING myself spend time with God. Ever since I had my son (he’s 16 months old) it seems that I just can’t prioritize (won’t, actually) to spend time with God. I hadn’t thought to pray for singleness of mind from God.” Join the conversation on TheLife.com Devotional for Men and TheLife.com Devotional for Women, each updated daily!

Experience TheLife Blog: Should Christians earn six figures?
Do you think a Christian should earn a yearly salary of $100,000 or more? Discuss on the Experience Blog! Read more

Devotional: How Do You Pray?
Some of us lean on the Lord’s Prayer. Our Lord Jesus gave us this prayer, so it is perfect–if we really mean every word! Read more

Coming up next week: One of the topics of our upcoming online chats is “Share a Highlight from Your Spring-Share Your Goals for Summer” Join us in the chat room June 29th 2009 @ 7:00pm EST for this chat or see also our full chat calendar for other upcoming topics.