Mother’s Day this year is on May 11, and I hope you are beginning to think about it. I want to begin my letter this month with a true story that will be familiar to some of you. It’s about the horrendous fires that ravaged Yellowstone National Park in June 1988.
We have chosen to devote the second part of the newsletter this month to mothers around the world. It features an article published with permission from Taste of the South magazine, and was written by Betty Terry. It caught the attention of our daughter, Danae Dobson, who is proud of our southern heritage and its culinary traditions.
My mother was the glue that held our family together. If anything fun happened, it was because she was responsible for it. She was employed full-time, and yet she tried to make the holidays as special as she could for my brother and me. As for my dad, he was an absentee father who was rarely there for us.
I want to retell a favorite story as I lived it in 1958. You might find it difficult to believe this account, but what you’re about to read is absolutely true.
See MoreDear Friends,
Many of you are familiar with the work of my colleague, Dr. Tim Clinton, who is co-host with me on the Family Talk radio broadcast. He and I share a deep commitment to the preservation of the institution of the family. Dr. Clinton is a licensed marriage and family therapist and is a recognized authority on mental health and relationship issues. He recently published a book entitled Focus on the Future. It addresses many important family-related topics, including a discussion of “the family table.”
On January 9th, just in time for New Year’s resolutions, foxnews.com published an excerpt from Dr. Clinton’s book and titled it, “Resolve to spend more time around the family dinner table in 2022.”
This article, and the book, are thought-provoking. The remainder of my letter this month discusses these ideas.
Dear Friends,
Many of you are familiar with the work of my colleague, Dr. Tim Clinton, who is co-host with me on the Family Talk radio broadcast. He and I share a deep commitment to the preservation of the institution of the family. Dr. Clinton is a licensed marriage and family therapist and is a recognized authority on mental health and relationship issues. He recently published a book entitled Focus on the Future. It addresses many important family-related topics, including a discussion of “the family table.”
On January 9th, just in time for New Year’s resolutions, Fox News published an excerpt from Dr. Clinton’s book and titled it, “Resolve to spend more time around the family dinner table in 2022.”
This article, and the book, are thought-provoking. The remainder of my letter this month discusses these ideas.
Recently, a colleague sent me an article that described a retirement center where the residents spent most of their time playing cards, pickleball, shuffleboard, and drinking heavily at parties. For them, life was like being on a perpetual cruise ship, where leisure had become an obsession. Most of these people had retired early to capture what they perceived as "the good life." From my reading of Scripture, this is not biblical. Retirement is not even mentioned in the Holy Word.
Have you observed that evil is having a heyday in America, and the traditional family unit is also in dire trouble? Sadly, some of today's evangelical churches are silent regarding the wickedness that now grips our nation. And our country, as we know and love it, appears to be going down for its final count. It grieves me to write these words. Yet, here we are.
Christian financial counselor and author Ron Blue said there are four principles for money management that are foundational. If they are implemented in your life, you'll never have a problem with materialism.
Dear Friend,
I am writing you today to warn of an imminent and real threat to the sovereignty of our nation. Two of our founding fathers, President George Washington and President Thomas Jefferson, counseled America against forming misaligned alliances with foreign entities—especially those who do not share our allegiance to the principles that formed our republic. Yet, the Biden administration is on the verge of doing just that by turning our keys of self-governance over to the World Health Organization. And, mark my word, if America gives up its sovereign rule as a nation, we could well lose our sweet land of liberty and effectively forsake every generation that has fought and died for it. God help us if we let this happen on our watch.
Have you ever wondered what topic Jesus talked about more often than any other? Was it heaven, hell, sin, repentance, love, or His second coming? The answer is none of these. It was money, and most of what He said came in the form of warnings. This caution about possessions and riches appeared throughout Jesus' teachings.
Dear Friend,
While there are many topics weighing on my heart right now, I am choosing one that means a great deal to me. It's the subject of fatherhood. I want to share with you a past letter I wrote for men—specifically for dads in which I drew from similar thoughts found in my book, Bringing Up Boys. A colleague recently told me that this is one of those letters he could read every year, and it would make him a better dad for it. As we pay homage to our fathers during the month of June, I pray this letter will do the same for you.
Men, God has ordained you for this job, and it's time to get to work.
I'd like to now turn our attention to a matter of great importance. As you know, the Declaration of Independence was formally adopted on July 4th, 1776, now 247 years ago. Our sweet land of liberty has remained a beacon of light in a dark world. Yet, when I survey the moral landscape across our country, I have grown increasingly concerned that the great light is waning.
There is a dangerous and wicked movement that is spreading like wildfire throughout Western civilization, and it has taken our country by storm, warping the hearts and minds of our children. It is the ideology of transgenderism, and Dr. Dobson and I believe this movement comes straight out of hell. It is an all-out attack against the Imago Dei—God's very imprint upon humankind.
On August 27, 2023, Shirley and I celebrated our 63rd wedding anniversary. To help us prepare for the occasion, I decided to give some thought to a topic I call "the thrill of the chase." There is nothing in human experience quite like the exhilaration of romantic passion when it first breaks into the senses. It is called being "smitten," and for good reason. The head spins, the heart thumps, and nothing else seems to matter. It isn't love, but it feels for all the world like the real deal.
Dear Friends,
I have asked our JDFI president, Joe Waresak, to write our monthly letter to our constituency. He has chosen to address a topic of great concern to me, the attack against biblical manhood and the resulting societal fallout. We share the same passion on this subject, and I commend his letter to you.
James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
My heart is grieved for the innocent Israelis who were massacred recently by the Hamas terrorist group.
Given the state of the world and the decline of our country, how can any Christian stay at home on Election Day? The stakes are simply too high.
—James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
Do you know why our organization and others call attention each year to the preciousness of human life during the month of January? It is because during this month in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion, for any reason or no reason, through all nine months of pregnancy. That one ruling resulted in more than 60 million abortions during the almost 50 years of its existence. Meanwhile, the killing continues, albeit at a slightly lesser rate.
It's February already, and it feels like we were just celebrating the Christmas season and the beginning of a new year. How does time fly so fast? We work at a breathless pace to prepare for these holidays, and we never seem to have enough time to fully enjoy them. I call this hectic way of living, "routine panic," and it is not only limited to the holiday season. For many of us, it's a pattern of everyday life. Can you and your family relate?
Here is a letter to commemorate Easter Sunday this year. I hope you will enjoy what I wrote to help celebrate this all-important occasion. May God bless your family on this sacred holiday.
Dear Friend,
At a recent meeting, our founder chairman Dr. James Dobson passionately expressed his ongoing concern for the institution of the family and our country's spiritual welfare. He noted the essential need to "get back to the basics" of prioritizing our faith in every aspect of life, especially where it is needed most—within the walls of our homes. If there was ever a breakpoint in America's history when a recalibration of the family is needed, that time is now.
In this month of May, it's appropriate that we turn our attention to what I believe is one of the most critical and tragic issues of our day—the degradation of women and the sacred calling of motherhood. You will recall in the letter last month, there was an emphasis on our urgent need to get back to the basics. Few things are more fundamentally important than God's remarkable design of a woman and the priceless role she holds as a mother.
Dear Friend,
Greetings from Washington D.C. My good friend and colleague, Dr. James Dobson, has asked me to write this month's letter on a topic that is critically important to both of us—the uprisings against Israel and the Judeo-Christian values that form the foundation of our country.
Dear Friend,
Approximately 248 years ago, as brave men and women fought valiantly for our country's freedom, Thomas Paine wrote these familiar words that still possess profound relevance:
Dear Friend,
I am writing this letter days after our former president, Donald J. Trump, was the target of an attempted assassination. In God's divine providence, the bullets that were fired at President Trump narrowly missed their mark. Tragically, one bullet struck an attendee, Corey Comperatore, as he courageously shielded his wife and two daughters from the assassin's assault. He died heroically, protecting his loved ones. Two other bystanders were also seriously injured in the attack. Words cannot fully express the emotions that I felt as I watched this horrific scene unfold.
Since my most recent letter to you, the culture has rolled on at a frantic pace.
Dear Friend,
As we approach the November 5th election, it is a watershed moment for our country. Dr. James Dobson wrote the following words before the 2020 election, and I am convinced that his compelling message is even more relevant today.
Thanksgiving Day will soon be upon us. It is a time to remember, and tell our children about the forebears who first came to these shores. It grieves me to know that many boys and girls in public schools are being taught that Thanksgiving is a day to be thankful, but they are not told for whom or what to be thankful. Many educators in public schools are prohibited from teaching gratitude to God or about the precious homeland He gave to us. Many will be taught that the settlers set aside a day to show gratefulness to the "Indians" who showed them how to plant corn. That misses the mark by a mile.
I want to retell a favorite story as I lived it in 1958. You might find it difficult to believe this account, but what you’re about to read is absolutely true.
My mother was the glue that held our family together. If anything fun happened, it was because she was responsible for it. She was employed full-time, and yet she tried to make the holidays as special as she could for my brother and me. As for my dad, he was an absentee father who was rarely there for us.
We have chosen to devote the second part of the newsletter this month to mothers around the world. It features an article published with permission from Taste of the South magazine, and was written by Betty Terry. It caught the attention of our daughter, Danae Dobson, who is proud of our southern heritage and its culinary traditions.
Mother’s Day this year is on May 11, and I hope you are beginning to think about it. I want to begin my letter this month with a true story that will be familiar to some of you. It’s about the horrendous fires that ravaged Yellowstone National Park in June 1988.
Raising kids, running a home, earning a paycheck—a mom’s work never ends. What’s the answer? Unfortunately, we can’t give you “super powers,” but we can offer time-tested truths and encouragement to help you be the best mom you can be.
We invite you to sign up for the “Empowering Moms” 6-day series. You’ll receive practical parenting advice to inspire and strengthen you—and your family. Take 5 minutes a day to be refreshed, encouraged, and equipped in your role as a mom.
