Topic(s): Marriage

Recently I heard a story which really struck home. Apparently a woman was driving her husband’s classic BMW for a special appointment downtown. That car had been his life and joy. He spent hours finding original replacement parts, tuning the engine, fixing minor dents, and waxing the car. He worked on it a little time every Saturday and many evenings, but the car was a beauty.

As she drove the car, she thought what a joy it was, but suddenly someone changed lanes and nearly pulled into her. To avoid crashing she swerved to the right just as a big truck drove up beside her. She demolished the bumper and dented the fender of her husband’s car. What would he say? How could he ever forgive her? If she had only been a little more careful...

Shortly a policeman arrived to take an accident report. She got out her driver’s license and reached into the glove compartment to get the insurance papers and title. To her surprise there was another smaller envelope inside with her name on it. The writing was her husband’s. A fearful sweat suddenly hit her. What would it say? He had often warned her about driving more carefully. She opened the letter and began to read it.

Dear Laurie,
If you are reading this, you have likely had an accident. Don’t worry. I trust this means you are all right, and that is what really matters to me. Don’t worry about the car, it’s only metal and rubber and plastic. You are what really matters to me.
I love you. James

What a wise husband! He strengthened his wife’s love and admiration for him and his marriage and his potential for happiness and his self-respect and his... well, you see that it was a wise investment.
Is there room for a note in your glove box?

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it ... So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.” —Ephesians 5:25, 28

Play “Catch” with Your Children

Topic(s): Parenting

God’s wisdom is seen in His stressing the importance of instilling in children the truths of His Word at an early age (Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:4-7). The man will be as the child is trained. By exposing children to a large quantity of Bible teachings in their early years, we can be instrumental in programming their “mental computers” so that they know the mind of God and think as He does.

Truth is as much the natural staff of life for the soul as bread is for the body. The soul cannot be strong and healthy without it. Ignorance is the starvation of the soul; error is its poison; truth is its food and healing medicine. The very highest truths are those which should be imparted at the earliest possible period in a child’s history. It is important that as soon as a child’s mind can admit the thought, it should be taught concerning Him who made it and all things, and who rules in heaven and on earth. You may train a fruit-tree by tying them to a railing; but the tree whose branches have nothing to lean on but air is not trained at all (Proverbs 29:15). It is a question between the Bible as a standard, and no standard at all.

Much of what parents are able to teach children is what is “caught” rather than “taught.” Children are far less influenced by precept than by example. Our character is a stream, a river flowing down upon our children hour by hour. What we do here and there to carry an opposing influence is, at best, only a ripple that we make on the surface of the stream; it reveals the sweep of the current, nothing more. If we expect our children to go with the ripple instead of the stream, we shall be disappointed.

Example teaches without a tongue. Precept may point the way, but example carries us along. The common saying of “Do as I say, not as I do,” is usually reversed in the actual experience of life. All persons are more apt to learn through the eye rather than the ear, and whatever is seen makes a deeper impression than what is read or heard.

Whatever children see they unconsciously imitate. Thus it is important that parents set a good example for their children; that grandparents set a good example for their grandchildren. They must live near to God. The influence of a parent or grandparent on the child should make it “easier to be holy than to be sinful, to do good than to do evil, to sacrifice than to enjoy.” Solomon said, “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness” (Proverbs 16:31). What you are, he will be.

Some do not get better with age; they get worse. Some begin to murmur and complain (cf. Philippians 2:14). They tend to exaggerate their problems and minimize their blessings. Someone said, “The older a man gets, the farther he had to walk to school as a boy.” At the funeral of a man prominent in the community, I overheard some elderly women talking about the deceased. “It’s really too bad about him,” one said. “He had the same thing I’ve got, only mine’s a lot worse.” We should try to avoid this attitude, for it will not set the right example for the next generation. The road to success is always under construction, but a gray-headed Christian is something worth imitating.

—Author Unknown

We Don’t Advise This End to an Argument

Topic(s): Marriage

A man left work one Friday afternoon. But instead of going home, he stayed out the entire weekend playing golf with the boys and spending his entire paycheck. When he finally appeared at home,Sunday night,he was confronted by his very angry wife and was barraged for nearly two hours with a tirade for his actions. Finally his wife stopped the nagging and simply said to him, “How would you like it if you didn’t see me for two or three days?” To which the husband replied: “That would be fine with me.”

Monday went by and he didn’t see his wife.

Tuesday went by and he didn’t see his wife.

Wednesday came and went with the same results.

Finally on Thursd1ay the swelling went down just enough so he could see her a little out of the corner of his left eye.

“Be ye angry, and sin not...” —Ephesians 5:26

Home-Spun Wisdom

Topic(s): Marriage

Troubles in marriage often start when a man gets so busy earning his salt that he forgets his sugar.... Too many couples marry for better or for worse, but not for good.... When a man marries a woman, they become one—but the trouble starts when they try to decide which one! ... Remember just because many couples “harp at each other” does not mean that their marriage is made in heaven!

"A merry heart doeth good..." —Proverbs 17:22