Love at Home…

An able physician recently suggested three short questions that could be asked to indicate how well a particular person might adjust to troubles and tensions: If the patient or the person can answer “yes” to these three questions, he is probably not seriously neurotic, this professional source said:

“1) Did your parents love each other? 2) Did they love their children? 3) Did the children love their parents?”

If the answer to these three short questions is a solid and sincere “yes,” it is likely that many if not most of life’s emotional problems can solidly be met and solved.

This we offer as evidence of some things most to be thankful for. Among the blessings of life for which there is reason for surpassing gratitude are the company and confidence, the love and loyalty of family. Whatever else a man may have, if these he doesn’t have, life is a duration of less than much it might have been.

With an understanding family, life is made up of many things: the closeness of companionship, the give and take, the sharing with and caring for.

There is the discipline; the acting as we are; the saying what we mean⎯and sometimes seeming to say what we don’t mean; sometimes taking much for granted, sometimes seeming indifferent⎯which isn’t actually indifference, and quickly turns to deep concern in time of need, in time of trouble. There is the going, the returning, the diversity of interests; the sense of belonging; the unforgettable feelings of affection; the unforgettable mixture of memories that hold tight our hearts, and strongly pull us back wherever we are⎯all this is home, all this is family, all this and more than ever can be mentioned:

Love at home. The love of parents. The love of children. The love of loved ones for one another. These are among the greatest of the gifts that God has given⎯these things more precious than ever we could be adequately thankful for⎯these things recalled in an old and cherished hymn:

“There is beauty all around

When there’s love at home,

There is joy in every sound

When there’s love at home.

Peace and plenty here abide,

Smiling sweet on every side.

Time doth softly, sweetly glide

When there’s love at home….”