Lord, help us to show love to those in need.
Help us to reach out to the suffering;
To be kind and helpful in time of need;
To the lonely be a friend by caring;
To the friendless reach out and be a friend.
Those who are arrogant show patience,
Be loving and attempt not to offend.
The downtrodden we show benevolence.
The loss of loved ones we show sympathy.
Those who are ill we pray for God’s healing.
Help us Lord to serve you with empathy.
Help us to do our best to be loving.
Jesus, Your love and Salvation we thank you.
Give us a right heart also to love you.

While a divorce is never easy pf pleasant for either partner, perhaps the biggest victim of the break-up of a marriage is the child. A divorce shakes the very foundations of child’s world and can damage his psychological frame-work to the extent that he or she may carry the scars of the traumatic event to adulthood. If you know a child in your circle of family or friends, here is how you can help him or her.

Make yourself available to the child as patient, willing listener. Assure him/her that you know divorce is painful business but you will always be there for the child in case he/she wants to talk and open up.

Give constant reassurance that the divorce is one of the many challenges that life throws up and that sooner or later things will get better. Above all, reinforce the fact that the child did not cause the divorce.

Try to spend more quality time with the child and engage him or her in things depending on your relation to the child.

You can also play the role of a trusted mediator between the child and the parents, depending on your role in the family. Without betraying the child’s trust point out the issues or concerns to either parent which you feel merit attention are not being addressed in the trying circumstances.

Every marriage faces ups and downs along the way but one of the most trying situations arise in the face of financial hardships. Considering the squeeze that most economies are going through right now, it is likely that marriages too are feeling the strain as wages become stagnant or lay offs increase. Here are a few ways how partners and families can survive financial hardships.

Start to pull your marriage together by offering each other unconditional love and support. Stop playing the blame game or accusing one another of being unlucky enough to get laid off. Bring back the love and faith that brought you together in the first place.

Take action. Draw up a list of expenses and see what you can do without. Remember both sides will have to give in a little for your marriage to survive the financial downturn.

Come clean with each other. If you have been accumulating debt on your credit card or withdrawing more than you can afford from your joint account, say so honestly. It is easier to deal with problems when both of you are on the same side rather than going about at cross purposes.

Finally, don’t forget that there are innumerable ways to love each other without having to spend money. Snuggle up together to watch old DVDs, take long walks in the park or just dance to an old romantic number after an early dinner to bring the magic back in your marriage.

A first date is always a special occasion – it is both full of wonderful possibilities and gut-wrenching anxieties. One of the main worries that crowd in on a first night out is how to break the ice with your date. Here are a few leads which will help you to start a conversation and keep it flowing for the rest of the evening.

Start from home with a positive frame of mind. Prepare yourself for the first date by relaxing and thinking of all the nice possibilities that lie in wait. Take a good look at the mirror before you leave the house and tell yourself you look wonderful. Kicking off the evening with a positive outlook will help you to be at ease and smoothly open a conversation.

Greet your date with a real smile and a warm shake of the hands. Tell him or her that you have been looking forward to this the whole day. This genuine welcome will put your date at ease and help you both to get things rolling.

The best way to help a person open up is to ask questions about him or her. However these should not be too formal as your date is not here to be interviewed by you and neither too personal since this is only your first date. Everything should be fun and enjoyable to both.

Contemporary society lays inordinate importance on money and popularity as the measure of success. In such a social ethos, we are often assailed by feelings of loss of worth and jealousy when compared to those who seem to have it all. However we can lead a far more wholesome existence if we only try and control our responses to the rich and famous among us.

Start by making a “pros and cons” list of all the things you are jealous of. For instance while an advantage of being popular is always having someone to hang out with, the obvious disadvantage lies in not knowing whether the friends like your company or your wealth.

Make another list of all the good things that have happened to you in your past, of all the good traits you possess as well as the family members and friends you cherish. An account of all these blessings in black and white and on paper might not seem such a bad deal after all.

If possible, get to know the person you feel jealous of. Once you see beneath the obvious glitter of wealth and popularity, you may realise that their lives are ultimately not so great.

However don’t hang about the rich and famous all the time. Look for friends and acquaintances from your own social set or with similar interests. You will find there is so much to explore and enjoy that there is not enough time to brood about what you don’t possess.

No two people can think completely alike and thus agree on every issue of the daily life. However in a marriage if the two partners are forever sparring on every little matter, soon the relationship is bound to sour. It is therefore best to choose your battles and decide which issues are worth standing your ground.

Try not be bothered about the small stuff. Instead of getting mad about the way your spouse puts toilet paper on the roll, let go or think of other non-confrontational ways of conveying your dissatisfactions.

Most important of all consider which issues are worth fighting for. Before you start a fight, reflect on expectations to see if they are realistic and reasonable.

Resolve issues as they arise. If something about your spouse is bothering you now, be polite and clear it right away instead of letting it fester and then bringing it up it some day when it has snowballed blown into major issue.

A lot of issues can be ironed out by effective communication. Express your feelings objectively instead of keeping them bottled inside. This will not only let your partner know how you feel about something but also prevent you from exploding later over a minor oversight.