5
January, 1945
Praying people are believing people and believing people are happy people.
we believe the future, is entirely in God’s hands. We can pray “Thy will be done,” and then do our very best to help accomplish God’s will, as we see it. Thus in our home life we can main tain a confident faith that in God’s own good time all will be well, and consequently can be cheerful in mind and buoyant in spirit. Morbidity, moodiness, self-pity, and fear have no place in God’s scheme of things, and, therefore, should have no place in our homes and in our lives. We can, if we will, build a sane and serene, helpful and hopeful, joyous and useful home' life during the com ing year. Separation of war or death can' be made to strengthen and hallow the home ties if we but believe in and adventure upon that course. Only One Way Some may ask how this ideal, can be achieved. Well, there is only one way to have faith in God, and that is to know Him by experience and by daily fellowship. There^are millions of homes in our land in which the curtains of despair have been drawn, and where the chill of doubt and fearsomeness pervades the place like a gloom, that could be turned into firesides of light and warmth if only Christ were invited in to dwell as a member of the house hold. In other words, a Christian altar in the home becomes like a glowing fire place, from the live coals of which radiate both warmth and cheer. Such an altar means, not only a Bible open, but also a Bible lovingly read and ad- [Continued on Pag? 8]
we have ever had before, inspite of all the trials and tribulations of war. The point is granted that we want that happy state; how can we then attain it? The title of the rest of this piece might be “How to Have a Happier Home in 1945.” * Secret of Increased Happiness There is some sadness in every home. I doubt whether there is a home in all America that is not in one sense or another;“broken,” or at least affected directly by the absence of someone at the fighting front. It may not be a member of the household, but there is someone Who is dear to us as a relative or whom we love as a friend, who is out there fighting in. the muck and mire, praying in fox holes, or navigating the high 'seas. Much as we long for them we know that they c a n n o t return, unless wounded or sick, until the battle is done. We all live in dread apprehen sion that word will come that there will be no return at all. It is not hu manly possible to be indifferent either to the present absence, or to the pos sible future separation, which this cruel war imposés upon all of us. Nevertheless,, we can have a happier home in 1945 than in 1944, even in this regard, if we will. For practically all of us, the initial separation is al ready an accomplished fact. In my own case, I have become somewhat adjusted to being separated from my two sons, one in the far Pacific, and the other on this side, ready to go. I pray that my home, like yours, may be made happiest by their homeward journey during 1945, but whether God wills that or not, I will go on to do my best to make a motherless home happier this year than last. This we can all do by having a deepened faith in God and a more complete dedication of ourselves to His will and to His keeping. I do not be lieve in being resigned to current events in the sense of being inactive or indifferent, but we need not feel that paralysis has struck us just because
by, he cannot fail to realize the do mestic tragedies that lie a h e a d . Youngsters go into matrimony as a lark, thinking it but an indulgence that, if not satisfactory, can be passed up for another. God is left out of the picture as marriage courts grind "out secular, even pagan, ceremonies at the rate of one every three minutes. Drab surroundings, irreverent justices of the peace or judges, and the general gay atmosphere of a passing adventure, destroy all sense of sacrednesS1which true marriage involves. Then one may witness the final aat of this burlesque on the sanctity of marriage, as the writer has done, in divorce courts w h e r e decrees are ground out with the regularity of ma chines coming off the assembly line. One day last spring in Chicago, a judge hurrying to get away on his vacation, granted seventy-nine di vorces in one day, or at the rate of one every four minutes. That meant tak ing of testimony, hearing arguments of the lawyers, if any,, and signing the divorce papers. What a travesty upon the very basic relationship 'of humanity such proceedings are! If the authorities are not mistaken, the dreadful record of 1945 will be only the beginning of an epidemic of mari tal smashups, due to the looseness, ridicule, and even contempt, with which marriage is so extensively re garded by millions of Americans—due also in large measure to the scorn heaped upon marital fidelity, homage of husbands and wives to each other, and the general integrity Of family life, by the movies, the stage, the press and current literature; likewise by the examples set in-Hollywood and other centers of “ dog-kennel” morals in our land—unless there is a sweeping coun teraction by the rebirth of religious fervor, in which marriage is truly sanc tified, and the home is revered. This may seem like a foreboding and morbid approach to the subject of “Will Your Home Be Happier in 1945?” But I believe we are honor bound to be realistic instead of just Polyannish in our approach to this critical subject. No one wishes more than I do that I might write a shining prophecy that every home would be happier in 1945 than ever before, leaving out of con sideration the fact of war, and the separations and heartbreaks, it causes. But I cannot do that, and be true to myself. I do, however, believe that in 1945 it is perfectly possible for every one of us to have a happier home than
Youngsters go into matrimony as a fork.’
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