The Versus (v.) or the Ampersand (&)

Today the Eyres lead us on a deep dive into Thankfulness and Gratitude and what they can lead to. With Fall and the Thanksgiving season approaching, we can explore the connections between gratitude and happiness, and can find the circular relationship of the four complementing gifts and paradigms of gratitude, generosity, stewardship and humility or "nothingness."

Today, after some banter about New York and Tennis and Grandkids, Richard and Linda dive into a discussion about two opposite mentalities: The win-lose, opposition and competition based "versus thinking" and the win-win, cooperation and synergistic "ampersand thinking." It is a comparison that is relevant in thinking about politics, about society, and about relationships.

The advance copies of the Eyre's new book arrived today, so they share their feelings about it in this episode and focus on the inclusivity and comfort that comes in thinking of God as a literal Heavenly Father and viewing all humans as our spiritual siblings. The connecting areal roots of Banyan trees or the intertwined roots of Aspen trees are a metaphor of how we are all connected.

Continuing their preview of their forthcoming book FAMILYCENTRIC, Richard and Linda, after offering some thoughts on the movie they saw the night before, focus on a list of the dramatic changes that come over someone who has a paradigm shift and progresses from believing in the divine only as a creator and a power to believing in God as our literal Spiritual Father.

In this episode, Linda and Richard do some reflecting and pose the question "Who are our people?" and explore the many ways, micro and macro, that it can be answered. They pay tribute to podcast listeners who are "their people" in terms of having read their books and raised their children "together." Then they pose the question "WHERE do you want to be in three years?"

In their "Familycentric" series, the Eyres continue to explore the benefits of viewing the world through a family-focused lens, and tell stories illustrating the world-wide phenomenon of people feeling deja-vu and the sense that they lived in some form of existence before being born on this earth. When this notion takes on a family perspective, it leads to a belief in a parental God who made this world as a place for us, his children, to grow and progress.

In this episode the Eyres continue their preview of their forthcoming book FAMILYCENTRIC and tackle a question that many people of faith wrestle with, namely "Does the Family support the Church or does the Church support the family? Which is eternal? Which is the means and which is the end? Getting those questions right can change everything.

The Eyre's will be back on a normal schedule next week! (Re-run from 07/28/2022) This episode is devoted to vision, dreams, and the ENDS that we want to work toward in our lives. The Eyre's begin with some final end-notes on their Family Reunion that has just concluded and then move to their three-letter lesson series where END becomes the focus, along with the MEANS or plans that get us to our desired family and relationship goals or ends. It is our envisioned ends that can guide and direct our whole lives!

In this episode the Eyres dive deep into the first essay in their forthcoming Familycentric book, and talk about often the lens we are looking through affects what we see as much as the thing we are looking at. They claim that an inclusive family-focused lens allows us to make more sense not only of our homes but of our Church.

In today's show, the Eyres express their desire to give the essence of their new book to podcast listeners before the book's release in the Fall. Sometimes the "lens" through which we view something determines what we see more than the actual thing we are looking at. Viewing God as a parent--as two Parents actually, a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother, changes how the whole Gospel looks and how it works in our lives.