Becoming good at the things that build inner confidence and calm takes practice and a dash of creativity! The following list might provide some cloudseeding for a brainstorm or two of your own:
- Pay off your credit cards.
- Take off ten pounds or accept where you are without any more complaints.
- Eat dinner together as a family for seven days in a row.
- Take your wife on a dialogue date (no movie, guys).
- Read your kids a classic book (Twain's a good start).
- Memorize the Twenty-third Psalm as a family.
- Give each family member a hug for twenty-one days in a row (that's how long the experts say it takes to develop a habit).
- Pick a night of the week in which the television will remain unplugged.
- Go out for a non-fast food dinner as a family.
- Pray for your spouse and children every day.
- Plan a vacation together.
- Take a vacation together.
- Read a chapter from the Bible every day until it becomes a habit.
- Sit together as a family in church.
- Surprise your teenager. Wash his car and fill up his gas tank.
- Take an afternoon off from work; surprise your child by excusing him from school and taking him to a ball game.
- Take a few hours one afternoon and go to the library as a family.
- Take a walk as a family.
- Write each member of your family a letter sharing why you value them.
- Give your spouse a weekend getaway with a friend (same gender!) to a place of their choice.
- Go camping as a family.
- Go to bed early (one hour before your normal bedtime) every day for a week.
- Take each of your children out to breakfast (individually) at least once a month for a year.
- Turn down a promotion that would demand more time from your family than you can afford to give.
- Religiously wear your seat belts.
- Get a complete physical.
- Exercise a little every day for a month.
- Make sure you have adequate life insurance on both you and your spouse.
- Write out information about finances, wills, and important business information that your spouse can use to keep things under control in the event of your death.
- Make sure your family car is safe (tires, brakes, etc.) and get it tuned up.
- Replace the batteries in your smoke alarm.
- Put a security system in your house.
- Attend the parent/teacher meetings of each child as a couple.
- Help your kids with their homework.
- Watch the kids on Saturday while your wife goes shopping (but if a friend calls, don't say that you're "babysitting").
- Explain to your spouse exactly what you do for a living.
- Put together a picture puzzle. (One thousand pieces or more.)
- Take time during the week to read a Bible story to your children and then discuss it with them.
- Encourage each child to submit to you his most perplexing question, and promise him that you'll either answer it or discuss it with him.
- Finish fixing something around the house.
- Tell your kids how you and your spouse met.
- Tell your kids about your first date.
- Sit down and write your parents a letter thanking them for a specific thing they did for you. (Don't forget to send it!)
- Go on a shopping spree where you are absolutely committed to buying nothing.
- Keep a prayer journal for a month. Keep track of the specific ways that God answers your needs.
- Do some stargazing away from the city with your family. Help your children identify constellations and conclude the evening with prayer to the majestic God who created the heavens.
- Treat your wife to a beauty make-over (facial, manicure, haircut, etc.). I hear they really like this.
- Give the kids an alternative to watching Saturday morning cartoons (breakfast at McDonald's, garage sales, the park, chores, etc.).
- Ask your children each day what they did at school (what they learned, who they ate lunch with, etc.).
- After you make your next major family decision, take your child back through the process and teach him how you arrived at your decision.
- Start saying to yourself "My car doesn't look so bad."
- Call you wife or husband from work just to see how they're doing.
- Compile a family tree and teach your children the history of their ancestors.
- Walk through an old graveyard with your children.
- Say no to at least one thing a day even if it's only a second piece of pie.
- Write that letter to the network that broadcast the show you felt was inappropriate for prime-time viewing.
- Turn off the lights and listen to a "praise" tape as you focus your thoughts on the Lord.
- Write a note to your pastor praising him for something.
- Take back all the books in your library that actually belong in someone else's library.
- Give irritating drivers the right to pull in front of you without signaling and yelling at them.
- Make every effort to not let the sun go down on your anger.
- Accept legitimate criticism from your wife or a friend without reacting or defending yourself.
- If your car has a Christian bumper sticker on in drive like it.
- Do a Bible study on the "wise man" and the "fool" in Proverbs...and then apply what it takes to be wise to your life.
- Make a list of people who have hurt your feelings over the past year...then check your list to see if you've forgiven them.
- Make a decision to honor your parents, even if they made a career out of dishonoring you.
- Take your children to the dentist and doctor for your wife.
- Play charades with your family, but limit subjects to memories of the past.
- Do the dishes for your wife.
- Schedule yourself a free day to stay home with your family.
- Get involved in a family project that serves or helps someone less fortunate.
- As a family, get involved in a recreational activity.
- Send your wife flowers.
- Spend an evening going through old pictures from family vacations.
- Take a weekend once a year for you and your spouse to get away and renew your friendship.
- Praise your spouse and children in their presence to someone else.
- Discuss a world or national problem, and ask your children for their opinion on it.
- Wait up for your teenagers when they are out on dates.
- Have a "quiet Saturday" (no television, no radio, no stereo...no kidding).
- If your children are little, spend an hour playing with them but let them determine the game.
- Have your parents tell your children about life when they were young.
- Give up soap operas.
- De-clutter your house.
- If you have a habit of watching late night television, but have to be to work early every morning, change your habit.
- Don't accept unnecessary breakfast appointments.
- Write missionaries regularly.
- Go through your closets and give everything that you haven't worn in a year to a clothing relief organization.
- Become a faithful and frequent visitor of your church's library.
- Become a monthly supporter of a Third World child.
- Keep mementos, school projects, awards, etc. of each child in separate files. You'll appreciate these when they've left the nest.
- Read the biography of a missionary.
- Give regularly and faithfully to conscientious church endeavors.
- Place with your will a letter to each family member telling why you were glad you got to share life with him or her.
- Go through your old records and tapes and discard any of them that might be a bad testimony to your children.
- Furnish a room (or a corner of a room) with comfortable chairs and declare it the "disagreement corner." When conflicts arise, go to this corner and don't leave until it's resolved.
- Give each child the freedom to pick his favorite dinner menu at least once a week.
- Go over to a shut-in's house as a family and completely clean it and get the lawn work done.
- Call an old friend from your past, just to see how he or she is getting along.
- Get a good friend to hold you accountable for a specific important need (Bible reading, prayer, spending time with your family, losing a few pounds, etc.).
- Establish a budget.
- Go to a Christian marriage enrichment seminar.
Little House on the Freeway, by Tim Kimmel