I’ve been reading Home-Making by J.R. Miller. What a delightful, wonderful little book!

Some of you who have never heard of Home-Making, may be wondering what it is about? Well, it’s about the wedded life, family, the role of each participant and how we can honor and glorify God in those roles. It is a beautiful, informative, visionary book. This book isn’t five steps to a better marriage…it is a vision of what a family should look like. My heart is charmed by this book. I honestly can’t remember the last time a book about this subject delighted and moved me more.

After reading just a few chapters, I already feel that this book should be required reading for every couple considering marriage and that its principles should be taught in every young adult married class – and maybe a few older adult married classes as well. We are desperately in need of the information in this book. We are desperately, as a Christian society, in need of catching this vision or perhaps I should say - of returning to it.  

Just in case you don’t believe me when I say that this book is both beautifully written and informative I’m going to share a few passages that I find worthy. (There are many passages – the whole book – but I’m only going to share a few. Keep in mind that I’m not even half-way through–in fact, I haven’t even gotten to the section I want to read entitled The Wife’s Part - and it’s all I can do not to skip ahead – so you will have the pleasure of enjoying more of this book with me as I read further.)  Here are a few passages from the book.

On The Wedding Life: 

“Marriage is intended to bring joy.  The married life is meant to be the happiest, fullest, purest, richest life.  It is God’s own ideal of completeness.  It was when He saw that it was not good for man to be alone that woman was made and brought to him to supply what was lacking.” (p.13)

“Perfect harmony cannot be forced in a day-cannot be forced at all-but must come through gentleness and perhaps only after many days.  There must be mutual adaptation, and time must be allowed for this.  The present duty is unselfish love.  Each must forget self in devotion to the other.  Each must blame self and not the other when anything goes wrong.  There must be the largest and gentlest forbearance.  Impatience may wreck all.  A sharp word may retard for months the process of soul-blending.  There must be the determination on the part of both to make the marriage happy and to conquer everything that lies in the way.  Then the very differences between the two lives will become their closest points of union.  When they have passed through the process of blending, though it may for the time be painful and perilous, the result will be a wedded life of deep peace, quiet joy and inseparable affection.”  (p.20)

From The Husband’s Part:

“In home-making each member of the family has a part,…The influence of one gentle and unselfish life may also in time soften rudeness and melt selfishness, and pervade the home-life with the blessedness of love.  Yet still it is true that no one member of the household can make the household life full and complete.  Each must do a part. The husband has a part,…the wife has a part; the children, the brothers, the sisters-each has his own part.”  (p.31)

More later.

blessings,

dani

 “Live in harmony with one another.”  (Romans 12:16)