03 June 2007

Sunday School Class Proverbs 23:13-16 How to discipline with the goal of the child thinking and speaking with wisdom.

Choruses: Gentle Shepherd; Glorify Thy Name in all the earth; Into Thy Presence we come

scripture reading: #644

Sunday evening - Vesper's from 5-6 tonight. The life of Christ chronologically -  

Wednesday Study Class 7-8 p.m. Teaching our children how to live effectively as Christians in society: Noblesse Oblige – obligation of benevolence.

Do yourself a favor, love your wife. 

Song of Solomon 7.10 I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me. 11. Come, my lover, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages. 12. Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom-- there I will give you my love.

 13.  The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my lover.

“…and at our door is every delicacy…”

What is to be learned in a love story?

·        Well, if the ‘whole world loves a lover’ then we can learn how to be loveable.

·        If ‘what the world needs now is love – sweet love’ then we can learn how to meet the world’s needs.

·        If people get married because they are ‘in love’ then we should be able to learn how to make marriage better.

In the New Testament we find Paul saying, “…husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.” Ephesians 5.28

There are strange dynamics at work in this thing of love. First, there are those brain reactions – endorphins, seratonins, etc., that change our outlook on life. Then there are those dynamics of relationship that make us loveable – or not.

Those are strange dynamics –

·        Are you being pushed away? Gently relax and that one of significance might just fall all over you. That is NOT the same as playing ‘hard to get.’

·        Are you having difficulty reforming someone? Sometimes 'reforming' a person isn't as important as getting them to do what you need for them to do. This is especially important in the constant rub, give-and-take, of close relationships.

Sometimes well-meaning hopes and expectations are perceived as pressures. That can frequently bring resistance and aloofness, or hostility.

What is most important in your relationship? Is getting what you want in the day-to-day material and social world more important than the peace and joy of a loving relationship?

The first imperative is keeping what is truly of significance the top priority. If that priority of significance is the one you love, then your relationship can be nurtured. It is a two way street, of course.

It has often been said, "It takes two..." and that is absolutely true in making a situation work - however, it only takes one to tear a relationship apart.

Don't be one who loses sight of what is 'at the door.'