Your DIFFERENT Day!
First, prepare for the day, the night before. Go to bed early enough to get up about one half hour or an hour earlier than you usually do — depending on circumstances, of course.
Plan to spend that extra time around the breakfast table, and after, with your family!
Wives, PLAN AHEAD what kind of "special" change you're going to put into the breakfast routine. Husbands, PLAN AHEAD how you'll spring out of bed, and, REGARDLESS of how you feel, FORCE yourself to say a cheerful and happy "good morning!" to your wife and children.
Supervise your children's dressing, their hygienic measures — and do so with real CHEER in your Voice, TEACHING them how to do it better, more effectively.
Bounce into the kitchen with a whistle, or a song — MAKE yourself enjoy the morning. THINK about the activities of the day — don't just bury yourself in morning news, or papers, or worrying about the problems you'll face later. Think about the welfare of YOUR OWN FAMILY first.
Think philosophically! Ask your children WHY THEY GOT UP. It'll tax your imagination — and surprise them! All right, WHY DID you? So you can prepare to WORK, so you can prepare to COME HOME; so you can be prepared to WORK AGAIN? Or is there a PURPOSE in your living?
When you ask — you'll have to find an answer. The results could be pretty interesting.
Husbands, while you're on the job, put your whole BEING into it — but in an off moment, TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT YOUR HOME, YOUR FAMILY!
Call your wife once in a while; if for no other reason than to tell her you love her, and how sweet she is to you. Think about doing something a little DIFFERENT for her on your different day. Take home a dozen roses, if you can afford it — or even a nice card, if you can't. EXPRESS yourself. You'll be amazed how much your wife will appreciate it.
Wives, THINK about what your husband is doing FOR YOU during the day — plan to make his evening as relaxing, as interesting, as comfortable as possible.
Too many couples live life accidentally. They stumble through one necessary routine after the other — never really looking ahead, never really accomplishing anything DELIBERATELY, with planned THOUGHT, in advance.
But your marriage is like a beautiful garden. It needs lots of careful ATTENTION — needs watering, cultivating, pruning, weeding out of wrong practices and habits. It needs DILIGENT work — not just casual, accidental, thoughtless happenstance.
Why not TURN OFF YOUR TELEVISION set just for once — and FORCE yourself to find some constructive, useful thing to discuss — or a game to play, or something to read aloud, or some music to play, or listen to? What about an old-fashioned ice-cream freezer? How about showing the children how to make it? Even your boys would like to learn a little about cooking, too, Mom — and they SHOULD!
You'll be surprised how QUIET it gets around the home when your TV is turned off for one whole evening. And you'll be surprised how much it may tax the ingenuity of some of you to simply FIND SOMETHING TO DO.
How about reading some of the PROVERBS aloud to your children — think of examples where you can APPLY them, and put them in simple terms so your children can really understand?
Can we get the point? Happiness is NOT THE RESULT OF AN ACCIDENT. A successful marriage is not a result of a fortuitous match! Rather, it's the end result of a lot of carefully thought-out, planned, diligent EFFORT! It takes WORK! Marriage is a PROFESSION — and it takes a lot of SKILL to really succeed at it.
Make GOD a Part of Your Home
And above all, QUIT LEAVING GOD out of your home!
Instead of perfunctorily "saying grace" over your food in nearly unintelligible mumbles, BRING YOUR FAMILY SITUATIONS INTO YOUR PRAYERS.
Ask God to BLESS your home, your family, to FORGIVE your mistakes, and to DRAW YOU MORE CLOSELY TOGETHER!
Have a morning BIBLE STUDY together! You'll be amazed at the results!
Were you arguing before breakfast? How CAN you ask the Almighty Creator GOD to BLESS YOUR FOOD, and your HOME, while anger and spite exists in your hearts? Chances are, the only REASON you have arguments is because you AREN'T PRAYING enough, aren't really CLOSE TO YOUR GOD!
Does it EMBARRASS you to pray?
Why? There's no "special" method. God hears you when you want Him to. Turn to some of the Psalms — see how David prayed. Read the fifth and sixth chapters of Matthew — see what Christ taught you. Get away from the formal ceremony of stereotyped prayers you learned from your parents and grandparents — TALK DIRECTLY TO GOD. He's REALLY LISTENING!
You KNOW you'll find it pretty difficult to continue in a bad mood when you ask God to become a listening, active, LIVING member of your household.
Do you KNOW God? Do you know His nature, His purpose, His promises to YOU, PERSONALLY?
If so — get busy and USE that knowledge. If you DON'T know these things — then get busy and PROVE them, to yourself. But realize one VITALLY important fact. Any marriage based on GOD'S LAWS, and any marital partners SEEKING GOD'S HELP Will NEVER separate, will NEVER end in divorce, Will NEVER result in violence.
As we go along in the nineteenth year of Ambassador Colleges, I reflect there have been more than TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE MARRIAGES between our students in that time. Many of them have sizeable families now — and some of their children are already young teenagers.
And there has not been one single separation; not one single divorce!
WHY?
Because they have been taught GOD'S LAWS about marriage — the SAME laws YOU'LL read when you study the booklets and articles I've mentioned in this article!
What is the FOUNDATION of your home? Is it your CREATOR? Or lust, jealousy, vanity and greed? Is it the BIBLE, and the LAWS OF GOD, Or the "ideas" of your friends, neighbors, parents, and business associates?
Your marriage can be as happy as you want it to be. As successful as you're willing to have it. And no other human being on earth can change it — it's all entirely up to you! WRITE for the articles and booklets mentioned in this article. STUDY them — and then get busy and live that DIFFERENT DAY tomorrow — and from now on!