1986 September/October issue Part 4

Readers Write:

Home Schooling

"We began home schooling this year and we love it," writes the mother of seven, ages three to fifteen. "It is helping us become a strong family as we work and learn together. My children are working harder, learning more, and developing good study habits. I need a lot of self-discipline in order to keep up with housework and do justice to the schooling, but it's an area I'm weak in and I appreciate the challenge." I have a hunch the lady is like the rest of us-not "born disciplined," just willing to ask for and receive the Lord's help.

Committed to Staying Home

"I am a seminary faculty wife and we live on almost poverty-level income, but no matter how great the sacrifice, I am committed 100% to being in the home. I can affirm that God honors this. We have few material possessions and have moved every year of our oldest child's life (seven. I've seen that we Christians can do many strange and unusual things (that the world and many Christians say cannot be done without the children's suffering-e.g. lack of possessions, permanent home, but with the family as #1 priority, a mother and father devoted to teaching the children sensitivity to life with God as center, God will bless and honor."

Wedding Rings

An elderly jeweler who had spent his life selling wedding rings in New York City to people in all walks of life was asked by a radio interviewer, "Do you see any difference between those who are buying rings now, and in the past?

  "Yes," was his prompt answer. "They are not so happy now. They live together first, and you do not see the happiness couples used to have when they came looking for a ring." He also noted that a large number of homosexuals are buying wedding rings.

  As Aristotle noted millenia ago, all men seek happiness. There are no exceptions. The difference between people is their definition. What's yours? How do you get there? John 13:17 (J.B. Phillips) has a good starter: "Once you have realised these things [the things the Master does], you will find your happiness in doing them." It seems that not many folks swallow that nowadays.