Ten Commandments

From the time we are toddlers right up to the present day, it is common for us to compare ourselves to others. I know that this past Christmas, my wife and I were happy to have our grandchildren open their Christmas presents on separate days so that they wouldn’t compare their gifts to their cousins’. We may think that this is only a problem that children have; however, there is a reason we have the […]

Something does not need to be lost in order to be classified as “misplaced.” We typically think of those two words as synonymous; however, there is a difference. If something is lost, it means that we are having trouble locating it. If something is misplaced, it simply means it is in the wrong place such as a, misplaced comma in a sentence (such as the one I inserted in this sentence). It is with this […]

The Seventh Commandment teaches us that we need to share the abundance of God’s creation. We are called to respect what belongs to others and to be satisfied with what we have for ourselves, knowing that most of us have more than we will ever really need in this life. The Seventh Commandment, “You shall not steal,” reminds us to thank God for what we have, to share what we have with others, and to respect what belongs to others. […]

Take a moment to complete the following simple word analogies. Hot is to cold as up is to ___________. North is to south as east is to ___________. Good is to bad as small is to ___________. Those were easy! (The answers, of course, are down, west, and large.) Analogies are all about relationships between words. The Sixth Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” teaches us about relationships, not between words, but between people. Just […]

It seems like podcasts are all the rage these days. There is no shortage of voices we can listen to concerning any subject. Whereas, in conversation, we often ask people what they are reading, today it is also common to ask people who they are listening to. Interestingly enough, this was a question that God had for Adam and Eve when he found them hiding in the bushes after eating the “forbidden fruit.” God asks, […]

It’s funny how so many people think of the Ten Commandments solely as prohibitions—rules that say no to everything. While the majority of the Commandments are indeed phrased in the “Thou shall not…” form—prohibiting actions from which we should refrain—the Third Commandment is unique in that it doesn’t tell us to avoid a specific behavior nor does it tell us to perform a specific action. In fact, the Third Commandment, “Remember to keep holy the […]

I remember one time in grade school when I was called on the carpet by the school principal, Sr. Salome, for some type of misbehavior (nothing too serious, I’m sure). As Sr. Salome verbally chastised me, the words that stung the most were, “That’s not what I’d expect from a Paprocki.” Ouch! As the seventh of nine children who all went to the same Catholic elementary school, I had to live up to the reputation that […]

The First Commandment is “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me.” Each of us has a natural attraction to God, who is always seeking to pull us closer to him as a magnet attracts a piece of metal. Unfortunately, we often let a lot of other things come between us and God. We are attracted to many things that we think will bring us happiness in life. When […]