House and Home

Anyone can build an altar;
It requires God to provide the flame.
Anyone can build a house;
We need the Lord for the creation
of a home.

A house is a agglomeration of brick
and stones, with an assorted collection
of manufactured goods; a home is
the abiding-place of ardent affection,
of fervent hope, of genial trust.

There is many a homeless man who lives
in a richly furnished house. There is many
a fifteen-pound house in the crowded street
which is an illuminated and beautiful home.

The sumptuously furnished house may only
be an exquisitely sculptured tomb; the scantily
furnished house may be the very hearthstone
of the eternal God.
[John Henry Jowett]

Married Life

Getting married is easy.
Staying married is more difficult.
Staying happily married for a lifetime
should rank among the fine arts.
[Flack]