Not only are fathers and mothers to love their children, but also each child is to live in an atmosphere of love. That is why Paul says, “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church.” Wives, on the other hand, are to love their husbands and to be in submission to them. No matter how much a parent may love a child there is a great blight if he does not love the mother. The same is conversely true. Young people will sometimes say to me, “My father and my mother quarrel all the time.” Dear mothers and fa thers, do we really love one another as Christ intended? This is not merely a sentimental romantic attachment. That is naturally involved in the marriage vows and relationship. Sometimes we get the impression that all the problems of the home are because parents do not live a righteous life. This is not true. There are a good many respectable people who have never understood real love. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that love is kind, love doesn’t compile statistics on another’s errors. Love tries to find a way to be constructive, bears all things, believes the good and doesn’t gloat over the evil. Love lasts forever because it is focalized in our Lord. A minister once confessed to me, “You know, my wife died just a few months ago. I’m deeply troubled and convicted. She had a complete mental breakdown and died in an institution. When I went to' call on her in the psychopathic ward of the hospital, I handed her a glass of orange juice. She looked at me and threw it in my face. She said, ‘You’re my problem. You’ve been the great big I am. You’ve wanted everything you saw for your self. You’ve been the leader. You’ve never loved other people and you’ve never loved me. I’ve been patient and have borne it. Now I’m broken. I know I’m mentally gone. I know I’ll never get well. That’s because I don’t want to get well. I want to go home with Jesus Christ. He’ll love me even if you didn’t. If you hand me a glass of orange juice or water again I’ll throw it in your face. I want to teach you the
judgment of a husband who didn’t love his wife.’ ” Oh, my.friend, how tragic this picture, the home of a minister of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to remember that romance is a tender flower which can die very quickly. We ought to be careful to make love to our wives; take them out to dinner; give them a box of candy; take them some flowers; court them. If we love one another we won’t be living in a continual state of bickering and quarrelling. A child in the home sees much more GRACE TODAY HeJp me to place in Thy hands today the things that my heart most fears. Tomorrow's anguish and bitter pain, tomorrow's sorrows and tears. The long, long years and the loneli ness, the silence, the vacant chair. The grief of today is enough dear Lord but tomorrow's I cannot bear. Ease Thou my burden and lighten my load, till only today is left. Soft comes His voice in the hush of my soul, "O broken-hearted, bereft, My grace is sufficient for Thee today, pillow upon my breast, Thy weary head in my encircling arms today, thou shalf find rest. Today I can meet thine every need, today my love can fill The echoing chambers of Thy heart, then rest thee and be still. Be still and trust. Tomorrow's tears may all be wiped away By God Himself. O grieving heart Thy Lord may come today! than we realize. They understand whether we really love one another or not. Mary must have loved Joseph, and Joseph must have had a great deal of understanding love for his wife. Do you husbands love your wives and do you wives love your husbands? Is there an atmosphere of love together in the home? In this atmosphere we are ready to discipline them in love that has a solid and a firm foundation. 14
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