Dramatic Apology

I have read 50 websites of moms arguing over whether drinking bathwater is bad for their child or not. The overall consensus is that it is gross, but is it really bad for them? A lot of opinions and misplaced facts seem to be circulating about drinking bathwater and diarrhea. Hopefully this will set your mind at ease. Pediatrician Dr. Tanya Altmann, speaking to BabyCenter, recommends discouraging this behavior, but says you don't need to be too concerned about it. Drinking soapy water could cause an upset tummy. But this is unlikely; most kids spit water out if it has that unpleasant soapy taste. And the amount of soap your child would actually ingest is pretty small considering how much water it's diluted with in a typical bathtub. As far as cleaning products, the amount of chemicals used to clean a tub, which is usually rinsed well afterward and then filled with water, is less potent than in swimming pool water. Still, it's better to give your child clean water from the...

“Choose joy.” You have seen it. It is on coffee mugs, throw pillows, and at least one wooden sign in every farmhouse-style kitchen in America. Depending on when you hear it, it is either good advice or the two most irritating words in the English language. Said by someone who has been through real hardship and come out the other side still grateful, it can sound like wisdom. Said to someone standing at a graveside, three weeks into a depression, or the day after a layoff, it can sound more like, “Could you please be sad somewhere else?” So here is the question: Is joy something Christians actually choose? Or is “choose joy” just a polite way of telling hurting people to get over it? Neither answer quite works. Scripture does call believers to rejoice. It even commands it. But Scripture also describes joy as something God gives, and it makes a surprising amount of room for grief, lament, anger, and the honest recognition that the world is badly broken. If we are going to say anything us...