We write this week's edition of the LILY Letter with some caution and we advise our readers to strike a balance with what we suggest. We are big fans of intentionally healing from relationship loss before dating and developing new relationships. Many people start dating before finding a basic sense of stability as a single […]
From the first time in adolescence when we start expressing our interest in the opposite sex, we start down a road of dealing with romantic rejection -- sometimes for the rest of our lives! For many of us, it will be decades until we find a companion that we mutually choose for the long haul. […]
In 2 Nephi 2:25 the prophet Lehi teaches, "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have JOY." This short verse flies in the face of one of the most elemental teachings of mainstream Christianity, namely, that Adam's fall took away our joy and condemned us all to live in a […]
Our first interview this year is with Sunshine Harston, who sheds some incredible light on her own personal experience with divorce, death of a spouse, and now being remarried with a blended family and bonus children. She has referred to some of her greatest losses as "beautiful heartbreak." We have pondered that in the wake […]
1-23-23 was the fifth anniversary of my third first kiss with the woman who, four months later, became my wife. You might be asking how a kiss could be a “first kiss” if it was “third.” If you’ve read my book, Intentional Courtship, you know that my relationship with Cathy had its ups and downs over […]
In 2022, I (Jeff Teichert) decided to choose a word to focus on for the year. The word that kept coming to me as I thought about the choice was "sanctify." Little did I know at the time that 2022 would bring painful losses in three generations of my family--including my son. When my good […]
We have experienced a fair amount of both death and divorce in our lives. "The Death of Marriage" (this week's podcast) can be every bit as painful and devastating as losing a loved one to death. Yet divorces don't have funerals. Why is that? Such rituals can be very helpful to those mourning a deep […]
As some of you know, I (Jeff) recently lost my 24 year-old son Henry in a climbing accident. A few weeks earlier, I commented to my wife (Cathy) that it felt like life was just about perfect. Then some severe work stress intervened, followed by receiving heartbreaking news that is every parents' worst nightmare. In […]
Throughout the ages, mankind has been taking note of various social practices and coming up with clever sayings that seem fitting. Some of these sayings become formulas that people subscribe to because they encapsulate the wisdom of the ages. While we see the wisdom behind many of these formulas, we also value personal revelation for […]
