Advice,Twice,Just,Nice,Nothing family My Advice: Twice Is Just As Nice

A lot of women avoid wearing nice clothes when they getpregnant because they believe that they look fat or ugly. You know that there’snothing more beautiful than a pregnant woman glowing and smiling, so youshouldn’t hide your body during p Raising a family can be challenging and stressful at times. However, the common goals and emotional, financial, and physical investments made can be a common bond between husband and wife. One that compliments their marriage relationship.Of

Nothing is more important to a blissful marriage than finding a point of agreement. Every veteran husband knows if he wants to change his wife’s mind about anything, just agree with her. It is amazing how this works. The technical name for this is “re-wife psychology.” The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and I have been married since 1971 and have not had a serious argument or disagreement. (She does not allow me to talk back.) We have had rough times, but not with each other.We have survived nine congregations, 19 homes, three children with nine grandchildren and all without compromising our relationship. My sanity is another issue.Throughout our marriage, we have always held to the advice not to go to bed angry. Of course, there have been a few sleepless nights. I have a simple rule: do not close your eyes if there is an angry woman in the vicinity.I honestly can say our marital relationship through the years has been most amicable. Since our marriage, my wife and I spend a lot of time working together and we never seem to get bored with one another.We are a great team. She puts up with me and I let her. It works wonderfully and we have been able to accomplish a good deal together.Only one area where we disagree and there may not be much of a remedy for this departure in company.Never fear. Our marital dissolution is not near.We have just learned to live with this dissent and, I might add, have survived quite happily.I suppose no relationship is absolutely perfect this side of the Pearly Gates. Not to boast, but I have my wife beat in this one area. I do not often get the upper hand with her; in fact, I cannot remember any other occasion where this has occurred.Nevertheless, we have come to a meeting of the minds on this subject. Really, if you don’t mind, the meeting doesn’t matter.Where my wife and I disagree concerns reruns. She hates reruns and I love them. If I enjoy a book or a movie or a television program, I like seeing it again and again. Not my wife. “There are too many things I haven’t seen yet,” she argues, “to watch something the second time. Of course, there is something to what she says. Nevertheless, I still enjoy seeing or reading something I like the second time or more.Like a classic, something you can enjoy over and over and it never loses its fascination or charm. In fact, each new exposure reveals some level you did not notice before.The reason they are classics is the quality about them that bears repeating. A good book, especially the Good Book, all warrants multiple readings in my opinion. I must confess that some things I enjoy more the second time around.Around Thanksgiving time, everyone seems to enjoy the turkey the second and third day just as well, if not more than the first day. In fact, you can tell a really good meal by how many times you can reheat it and enjoy it.Thank God for microwave ovens. What did those Pilgrim mothers do without them?My favorite movie of all times is “Old Yeller.” Thanks to the invention of video, I own my own copy of this classic and never tire of watching it.My wife, on the other hand, tires of me watching it. There is nothing quite like curling up in my favorite chair with a soda and a mountain of popcorn watching “Old Yeller” on a winter’s eve.If you have seen the movie, you know the closing scene is the real tearjerker. I do not want Old Yeller to die. Every time I watch, I cross my fingers and hope this might be the time Old Yeller makes it.I do not like to be negative. I want to be optimistic about things and put a positive spin on everything. One day, I am sure, I will watch it and to my happy surprise, Old Yeller will make it.I have seen it 973 times so far and it has not changed. Nevertheless, you never know. Stranger things have happened.My experience has taught me that the really good things in life, only improve the more they are repeated. The quality of some things increases with age.I know the older I get, the better I become. (I absolutely refuse to qualify that statement.)Although the Bible is more than a classic, it does bear much repeating. I have found that the more I read the Bible the more I get out of it. A passage that I have read 20 times before becomes new and fresh the next time I read it.I cannot explain this wonderful phenomena, but it has happened to me many times.King David understood this as no other person in the Bible. In one passage, he testifies to the importance of God’s Word in his own life. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalms 119:11).The Apostle Paul said this about the Bible, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” (2 Timothy 3:16).The Bible is a marvelous book that bears repeating. The more I read it, the more I enjoy it.