This week

• It’s okay to subscribe to a magazine. Or even cable TV. But don’t subscribe to this. It will cost you more than it’s worth…
• Dissolve painful kidney stones by putting on a sour face for 12 hours. Sounds crazy, but it works…
• The “old-fashioned” principle that could save your marriage. Violate it, and your marriage could be in serious trouble…
• Why children hate to practice musical instruments. Accomplished music teacher shares 6 ways you can encourage them to keep learning…
• When taking shortcuts can widen the gap between you and success. Famous Christian finance and success coach shows why. And what to do instead…
• Honesty is the best policy. This young explorer’s honesty won him more than he bargained for. It can work for you too…
• Both nations and churches die when they make this mistake. How to recognize it and what to do about it…

"The Bible teaches that Christians are totally different from anyone else." -
Peter Jeffery, Evangelicals Then and Now (Buy Now)

Health

Simple At-Home Remedy for Dissolving Painful Kidney Stones

If you've ever had a kidney stone, you know how painful they can be. I've heard women say they were almost as painful as childbirth. Now that's painful! But did you know there's a simple way to dissolve the stones right from the comfort of your own home?

Before I tell you what this secret home remedy is, you first need to find out what type of stone you have. If it's a uric acid stone, this remedy may not work. It's most likely to work on a calcium stone (almost 80% of kidney stones are calcium stones).

Next, you'll need to avoid soft drinks. I suspect soft drinks are one of the biggest causes of kidney stones, largely because most kidney stones are made of calcium. When you drink acidic soft drinks, your body has to balance the acidity with calcium from your own bones (which is why soft drinks cause osteoporosis). As the calcium runs through your kidney, it gradually turns to stones.

The best way to deal with the calcium is to alkalinize your system. Many people insist you should avoid acidic foods in order to do this. But that's not always true. Yes, you should avoid the soft drinks, because the phosphoric acid makes your urine very acidic. But, amazingly, citric acid has the opposite affect once your body metabolizes it. It will actually alkalinize your urine – and keep stones from developing.

But the citric acid, if you take enough of it fast enough, can actually dissolve the stone.

It's important to start with the fruits that have the highest citric acid content. These are lemons and limes (the more sour a fruit is, the more citric acid it contains). In order to dissolve a kidney stone, it takes a lot of citric acid. So here's how to get it: Take 8-10 fresh lemons (I prefer lemons, but limes will work too) and squeeze out the juice. This should make about eight ounces of juice. Drink this at the first sign of pain. I suggest adding some Stevia sweetener to make it more tolerable.

Then, every hour after that, drink one ounce of lemon juice (from one lemon) mixed with water (and Stevia, if you like). Do this for the next 12 hours. In many cases, this can prevent the need of surgery or laser treatment. And it will usually make the stone much easier to pass.

– Rhett Bergeron, MD

Parenting & Education

Why Kids Hate to Practice Music and What You Can Do About It

When parents have their kids take music lessons of some kind, it does not take long to realize that little Johnny hates to practice. At least, in most instances. This can create some tension in the home between parents and children. And it can also create some stress with the music teacher.

There are reasons for the lack of practice. It might be that the child is too young. This is why it is not good to start students too early. Or it might be because the piece is too long. If the piece is taking the student quite some time to learn it, they will begin to lose motivation very quickly.

It might also be that the child is still learning to read music. In my experience as a piano teacher, this can be a real problem with older students. When children are younger, they like to learn new things and they are so involved in the learning process that they don’t mind if it takes a long time. But as they get older, children can have impatience if things take too long to learn.

On top of this, there is the monotony of some of the exercises that are given to music students. Most children hate to practice scales. These can be tedious and therefore unmotivating to younger children. This is why, in my own teaching experience, I now save the scales and technical exercises for the older students.

There are several things that can be done to help a child practice more successfully.

First, set some realistic and achievable daily goals. Many teachers insist students practice a certain amount of time each day, but this can be unrewarding. The child plays for 30 minutes but learns very little. It is better to set some small and realistic goal so that at the end of the practice session the child can say “Today I achieved this.”

Second, make sure that the practice session is not too long. The length of time should match the child’s attention span. Be willing to vary the time. We all have good days and bad days. Some bad days it is better not to practice at all. Other days it takes us longer to learn. On the good days, we should be able to finish our practice as soon as the goal is reached. And if that only takes five minutes, that should be it for the day.

Third, don’t impose the boring aspects of playing on young students. Many teachers insist their students practice scales and exercises. For most young people, these are tedious and boring. In my own experience, I have found it more productive to delay scales and technical exercises until the student is older and realizes the necessity of learning these.

Fourth, find music that the student likes. Young children usually like something that displays their skills, and often the faster the music the more they enjoy it. Insist your teacher finds pieces that your child likes to play.

Fifth, don’t expect perfection too soon. Modern recordings, where the performer gets the opportunity to fix all his mistakes, creates the illusion of perfect performances. This is not always the case in live concerts. Without in any way attempting to lower standards, it is not necessary for every performance to be note perfect, and students should not be made to feel inferior just because they have a few slip-ups when they play.

Finally, encourage your child to use his or her musical gifts for the enjoyment of others. This means having your child play for other people. This will help give them confidence, and also help them understand that while they might like to enjoy music themselves, it is a precious gift to be able to give the enjoyment of music to others.

Try this, and see if it makes a difference.

– Ian Hodge

(Note: Ian Hodge is a pianist and piano teacher as well as a writer for Wisdom’s Edge. He has written a music curriculum based on the classical concept of education. This program will teach your child the grammar rules of music so that they not only know how to read, write and play their own music, but they will have fun developing and playing their own compositions. You can get more information at www.readwriteplay.com.)

Success

Two Powerful Success Secrets for Business From a Billionaire

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to speak at length with radio talk show host Dave Ramsey. During the course of our discussion, Dave told me a story that revealed two powerful secrets for success in business. Here’s what Dave had to say:

“I had a conversation with a guy the other day who is worth about $6 billion. Every time I have a conversation with someone like that, I listen and take notes. I asked him what advice he could give me to build my business up to be as successful as his.

“He brought up the tortoise and the hare. He said keep it steady, keep it slow. Keep your eye on the ball, and don’t be running around all over the place. Keep going every day with excellence in the ordinary. Every day, get up and do it beautifully and with unbelievable professionalism. Every day. Steady, steady, steady.

“The second thing he said was not to try to maximize every margin: leave room in your deals so that everybody wins. If you beat a vendor up so badly buying from him that you make him go broke, you’ve lost a partner in the marketplace. If you squeeze every ounce out of your team and don’t share with them in compensation, you won’t have anyone that will want to go with you as you win. Be a giver; have a generous spirit. You’ve got to be wise in the middle of that – you can’t give away every dollar – but he said that so many companies, especially when they get to the point where they’re being publicly traded, feel like they have to squeeze every dollar out of every movement and everything has to be monetized perfectly. He said to just leave a little room, a little margin.”

Too many people try to take shortcuts to success. They use debt to jump ahead. They jump from one opportunity to another. And they try to make others take their lumps for them. The advice of this billionaire many times over is just the opposite. Steady professionalism and taking care of those around you will get you much further, much faster than any shortcut.

– Steve Kroening

Wisdom From History

3 Secrets to Win the Heart of a King – Courage, Honesty, and Thoroughness

Marco Polo was willing to satisfy his curiosity at the risk of his life.

A 13th-century adventurer, Polo set out on a three-year trek from Italy to China when he was 17. He skirted fierce battles, fended off bandits and crossed brutal terrain. The Gobi Desert was so barren that even birds wouldn't fly over it on their way somewhere else.

But Polo (1254-1324) was not only curious. He was driven by an unshakable faith that his passion for adventure was divinely inspired.

I believe it was God's pleasure that I should get back in order that people might learn about the things that the world contains, he wrote in his book, The Travels of Marco Polo.

He wasn't the first European explorer to head to the East. But if his accounts of his trips are to be believed, few could claim to be as astute a student of its lands and cultures.

He learned several languages. He befriended king and peasant. He learned their ways. And in the process, he developed the trade routes that linked Asia's economy to Europe's.

He was so successful that his travels inspired Christopher Columbus's voyage some 200 years later....

Soon after reaching China, Polo was ushered to Emperor Kublai Khan's palace. According to legend, the emperor whistled for his pet lion to test the young man's courage.

Polo knew that any relationship he'd have with the rich, powerful Khan rested on what he did next. Marco swallowed his terror and stood still. Bored, the lion turned away and lay down at the feet of his master. When Khan asked Polo if he'd been scared, he wiped the sweat from his brow and truthfully answered yes.

The emperor admired both his honesty and his courage, and a bond that lasted more than 24 years was formed between the two.

Khan sent Polo to the vast reaches of his empire to be part journalist and part analyst. The emperor sent thousands of scouts on similar missions to report on the laws, customs and goings on in the regions. But he's said to have liked Polo best because of his detailed reporting.

– Linda Stockman-Vines

(Quoted from "Explorer Marco Polo," Investor's Business Daily, October 6, 1998)

Word for the Wise

When Your Opinion Leads to Destruction

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel." Proverbs 12:15

In his own eyes – If you wanted to subvert the truth but you did not want to create confrontation, what strategy would you choose? If you were really clever, you would convince those who spoke the truth that their claims were only relative. In other words, you would persuade them that while they might be right from their point of view, other points of view were just as valid for other people. There really isn't any absolutely true belief for all times and in all places. Truth depends on the circumstances. And, of course, we must be understanding of those who have a different viewpoint. After all, we don't want to offend anyone, do we?

What happens when this strategy is successful? Truth becomes a branch of psychology. It no longer matters what is said as long as it doesn't hurt anyone's feelings. Emotions are more valuable than ethics.

Solomon observes that those who disdain godly correction often take the position that the truth is flexible. If it looks right to them, that's good enough. The Hebrew be enayw is the equivalent of "I have my own opinion." Today we call this by the politically correct term "tolerance." Tolerance reduces ethics to emotions by eliminating a standard of correction. It's how I feel, not what I do that matters most.

You don't have to look far to find tolerance as the basis of behavior. Hollywood has made it a mantra. Political personalities carefully craft their words to make sure they sing the right song. Even churches stumble over offending others. On every side, we are taught to be socially embarrassed if we hold truth to be self-evident. We are an ethically homogenized culture. It's a dangerous time.

Jim Nelson Black's book, When Nations Die, makes it clear that no culture has yet survived the collapse of a standard of moral truth. Apparently, our culture believes it is the exception to the rule. But it is self-evident that God thinks otherwise. The God who was, who is, and who will forever be does not have a "tolerance" view of the truth. He might be incredibly tolerant when it comes to withholding judgment, but that does not mean that He will never judge.

Solomon tells us that there is a way to know the standard and live by it. It doesn't come from inside my own thinking. Yes, I must be rational. Yes, I must be critical. But the standard is not what I think it should be. It is found in the wise counsel of those outside me, the ones who do not look at the world with my eyes. Thinking that my way is always the right way is nothing more than blind arrogance. Even if it's tolerant.

– Skip Moen

(Ed. Note: Skip Moen, PhD, is the president of At God's Table and the author of Words to Lead By.)

The Time Shaver

How Can We Help You Shave Time?

Last week, I shared the wisdom of Proverbs 15:22:

Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.

We all haveareas in our lives where we need the counsel of others. The TimeShaver is here to help you Shave Time off your day so you can focus on more important things, such as time with God, your spouse, and kids. If there are specific areas in your life that you would like help Shaving Time, please e-mail me your questions at TheTimeShaver@adelphia.net and I'll be glad to help. More than likely, there are hundreds of people out there who struggle with those same areas. So we can minister to them as well.

And if you have any TimeShaving ideas, I would love to hear about those as well. If you have a technique, product, or tip that will Shave Time, please forward a brief description to TheTimeShaver@adelphia.net. I look forward to hearing from you.

– Dale Gramith (TheTimeShaver@adelphia.net)

Resources

The Travels of Marco Polo, by Marco Polo and Ronald Latham (BUY NOW)

When Nations Die, by Jim Nelson Black (BUY NOW)

Evangelicals Then and Now, Peter Jeffery, Evangelical Press (BUY NOW)

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