Top

Ten Golden Rules of Marriage (Continuation from March)

     God has a purpose for each family that his holy will be realized through each member living in the home. The parents must be willing to submit and forgive so that peace and joy will always prevail in the home. The home where worldly things are given priority Peace and joy cannot prevail in such homes. The bible says " Do not love the world or any thing in the world, If any one Loves the world the Love of the father is not in him" 1 John 2 vs. 15. The partners alone can make their homes a perfect place for the children if they live according to Gods word. When we do not allow sin and all the evils of sin to enter into our Home we can make our homes a better and happier place to live. Let’s see the remaining five golden rules of marriage.

6. Do not be Proud: In the Christian life, it is important that we carefully know and understand the danger of being Proud. This is a quality greatly resisted and hated by God. "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought " because the end of being Proud is falling away from the love of God. This quality should never remain in a relationship because it leads to rudeness, unkind behavior, arguments, stubbornness and all the evil sinful natures that can ruin the peace and joy in the family. God loves those who are poor in spirit because they alone can enjoy the riches of forgiveness and peace with God as the Bible says "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God Mat 5vs 3. Where there is humility their will be peace, forgiveness and joy.

7. Do not be Ambitious to gain Material Possessions: The three basic rules we have to follow to live a peaceful life are Firstly we are to be content with what we have for our heavenly Father will take care of us. Secondly we are not to worry about our life for God will provide us with all the things we need in our life. Thirdly we are not to desire to have riches, or possessions, for they will become a stumbling block to our relationship with God. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. "Our life is a short journey we must remember to make it a happy one.

8. Do not be slaves to sin: We should not become slaves to sin because the bible says “Sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” “Sin shall not be master over you.” This is a promise and assurance for all those who come to God. God expects us to flee from sin so that always his grace will remain with us. When we live in his grace our homes will always be filled with joy and peace.

9. Do not be lying: It is the duty of every one to be holy, because Christ is a Holy and if we are his children every form of untruth, lies and evil must be far from us. When we lie to each other we are giving room for the evil one to destroy the peace It is only if seek and follow truth then only we can have a relationship with God because God is true. Partners have to live and walk in truth.

10. Do not destroy the Peace and Joy in the house: We may be moving through the most difficult times in our life, the whole situation may be challenging. Our future may be dark and uncertain, the storms of life may be blowing against us. We may be facing failures, sickness, defeats in our personal life. However dark the situation may be, we must learn to turn to God and remember God has the power to preserve us and sustain us for this is a promise given in the Bible. Our personal problem should not become a reason to break the peace in our homes.

- Elizabeth Anil

THE WORLD CELEBRATES

Mothers Day

A Chinese proverb says, God created Mothers because He finds it difficult to appear everywhere for everyone at every time. People all over the world have praised mothers for thousands of years. People added the name mother to things and places they loved and honored. Mother Earth, Mother Nature, Mother Country, Mother tongue are some showing their origin and love. The Christian festival called Mothering Sunday in Europe falls on the 4th Sunday in Lent. Each spring the youth went home on this Sunday to visit their mothers and grandmothers with gifts for them. On Mothering Sunday, sons and daughters did the cooking and cleaning while mothers went to church. In the United States, Mothers Day is the second Sunday in May. Boys and girls and fathers have fun planning surprises for mothers and mothers have fun guessing what the surprises will be. Churches, restaurants, schools and companies do different things to honor mothers.

The woman who started Mother's day was Anna Jarvis who was born in Grafton, West Virginia. She never had children of her own nor was she married. She began by honoring Anna Reeves Jarvis, her own mother. Seven of her children died when they were very young and she was very sad about their death. To keep out of her sadness, she spent the rest of her life helping people in Grafton. Mrs. Jarvis died in 1905 on the second Sunday in May. That was when Anna decided to do something to honor all mothers. Mrs. Jarvis's favorite flower was the carnation. Pink and white carnations became the symbols of Mothers Day. Anna wrote more than 10,000 letters to business and government leaders about observing Mothers Day and as a result of her determined efforts, President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 announced that Congress had voted to make Mother's Day a national holiday. In 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt chose the painting, " Whistlers Mother" to be a stamp. The words printed on the stamp are "In Memory and Honor of the Mothers of America".

 Lara Hale was an African American woman who worked to help children with special needs. She was called "Mother Hale" and she started the Hale House in New York city for babies whose mothers took drugs and were born sick. Candy Lightner started MADD (Mothers against Drunk Driving) Kay Willis started Mothers Matter. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, born in Yugoslavia, the catholic nun is the 1979 Nobel Prize winner- Mother Theresa, the beloved the world over. International Mothers Day was first celebrated in 1911 in India. It was chosen in memory of Gandhi's wife Kasturba. Now all over the world Mothers Day is celebrated in very attractive ways with music, dancing, flowers, cards and food. The words "to mother" mean to give love and care. That's what mothers do. It is the best reason to honor all mothers.

In the Bible we see great examples of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Hannah, the mother of Samuel etc. Again we read about Jesus's teachings about mothers as one who cares and guards us just like a hen guards its chicken. In ancient homes in Kerala the mother is the one who lights the lamp and puts it off. In the Hindu concept, mother is considered to be Lakshmi, the embodiment of all blessings and prosperity. M- is for the million things she does, O- means Only that she is growing old, T- is for the tears that she sheds, H- is for her Heart of gold, E- is for her eyes with love-light shining in them, R-means Right, and right she'll always be. Yes, Mothers are angels.

-Annie Varughese