Get ready, hang on,…this is going to be a discussion that can change the entire course and results of your marriage, your home, your family, and your future. Big words, say you?…No, this discussion is just going to be the plain and simple truth of life. As a word of caution, please do not draw any arguments or conclusions as to the teaching in this discussion until after you have read or listened to the entirety of it and then spent some serious contemplation time regarding its contents.

There is a great demand placed upon both parties to the marriage covenant. A great deal of all the obligations, duties, and responsibilities of each of the partners are designed and expected to be shared by both the husband and the wife; even more so once there are children added to the mix. It really is not to be a “her role”/ “his role” proposition. While each of the partners have their own specific responsibilities, the “marriage” of a man and woman is to be a shared and continual effort. The fact is that the more involved each of the partners is within the activities of the marriage, the happier and more productive will be the marriage union.

Let’s take this discussion a little deeper.

Once while on a deep sea fishing trip at the tip of the Olympic Peninsula, I came across a picture poster of the famous movie star, John Wayne, dressed in full infantry battle gear of the U. S. Marine Corps. His face was covered with a mixture of sweat, blood, grime, and dirt. He had a scowl on his face. An inscription ran underneath his picture which read: “Life is hard…If you are stupid, then it is twice as hard.” These words are very true and are very sound words of personal counsel to all men and women who are also in a position of being married and raising a family.

The family unit is the foundational building block of all human societies within all of God’s creation. As goes the family unit,…so goes the nation. If children are not raised properly as instructed by God Almighty, they will never be able to do their part in the overall scheme of things required to complete God’s Plan for life on this earth and throughout all eternity. Improperly raised adolescents usually grow up and into improperly behaved children and adults. Improper behavior and conduct will never be rewarded by the Creator of the Universe. While God is a loving and caring God, He is also a very just God and as such will not tolerate or reward incorrect or improper behavior,…whether you believe in God or not.

Duty, this word all too often carries with it an idea of an unpleasant work task, assignment, or personal performance that requires lots of hard, difficult, and often times unpleasant personal, prolonged effort. Please do not permit yourself to fall victim to any negative connotation surrounding or involved with the usage of the word,…duty. As a matter of fact, I would request that you, from this point forward, begin thinking, talking, and acting in a most positive manner and way whenever this word duty presents itself to you or about you. Duty is a most powerful and important word whenever or wherever it is appropriately used. Furthermore, there is always a great personal blessing associated with the completed performance of required duties once they have been completely fulfilled.

Now please listen,…God demands obedience to His Word and its instructions. God always rewards obedience (although not always immediately). It should be noted that God also penalizes disobedience.

Whenever a person is personally responsible and readily accepts his or her responsibility, appropriately performs the duties demanded, and becomes totally accountable for the actions they have taken, then, I will tell you the truth…doing your duty can and always will be or become a great blessing in your life. Never forget what I have just told you as you live out your life,…birth and raise a family,…create and build a family legacy, and enjoy all of the fruits of your marital union as you both grow old gracefully together for the remainder of your life. That is precisely what God had in mind when He created and established the institution of holy matrimony by and between a man and a woman.

You see, family life teaches us that we do some things simply because such things must be done. Depending on what such required actions are or involve, there will be times when either the husband or the wife or both, will actually grow to resent such demanded requirements….but, duty calls us to overlook our personal feelings and remain faithful to perform the required tasks. Now listen carefully,…if we lived merely by inclination, emotion, or happiness as to what our personal “likes” and “dislikes” really are, and then would do only that which we really liked doing, without any sense of duty or personal responsibility…as a consequence, our lives and for that matter the entire world would become a ruin. The great G. K. Chesterton, author, theologian, philosopher, and journalist (1874–1936) once confessed, “In everything on this earth that is worth doing, there is a stage when no one would do it except for the necessity or honor.” His words and their message is so true to and in our own lives today.

I just want you subscribers to this website to know (because it is and can be very comforting to you) that each and every family…and I mean every family…faces times when weariness and exhaustion leads the parents to ask themselves…“Is it all really worth it?” “Why bother?” American Quaker, author, and theologian Elton Trueblood (1900–1994), provided this gentle and consoling counsel to all members of any family:

“The desire to escape family responsibilities is practically universal at some time or other and if mere inclination were followed every family would break to pieces…Countless humble homes have been made scenes of enduring wonder by the fact that an accepted bond has held the members together in spite of hard work, poverty, and much suffering.”

By fulfilling God’s call to keep our marriages, our homes, and our families in tact, we always find the spiritual blessing that results from our “hanging-in- there,” and from our “perseverance-to-the-cause,” to be our greatest personal reward and satisfaction….despite whatever type and amount of pain it may cause. Sacred parenting, Righteous parenting, Godly parenting always rejects socially approved exits from the marriage union. Such parenting invites us to experience the benefits behind these trials to an even greater degree simply because the escape isn’t so easy.

God’s Word specifically tells us that we all will live a life filled with various trials and tribulations. He exhorts us that no matter the type or kind of trials, we are always to consider them as sources of great joy! (See James 1 : 1–8). You see, friends, whenever you face a trial or other painful test, there always lies therein a positive seed of an equal or greater blessing or benefit to you once you overcome the trial and move forward with your life. Being dutiful, doing the right thing regardless of the circumstances or suffering to be faced, is the only way to earn the reward of your Creator.

The crux of this issue of doing your duty…is simply this:

Our first and most natural inclination in any trial or test as relates to our
marriage and/or other family matters is to pray for God to remove the
difficulty. But God’s first priority is often to strengthen us in the
midst of the difficulty rather than to take us out of the
difficulty….that is because He can see the treasure that lies only
at the end of the trial.

I once heard one of my personal mentors rightly say…“Grandchildren are our God-given reward,…for not killing our own kids.” Hey,…I know raising a family is a very difficult thing to do. I know your children will all make some very stupid, foolish, or unwise choices. They will do some not-so-smart things while they are still living in your home. That is O.K. You once did some of those type things when you still lived in your parent’s home. Everyone makes mistakes….But love and forgiveness overcome all things. Remember what Christ did for all of we believers while we ourselves were yet sinners and were doing some very stupid and foolish things.

No matter how difficult our children may be, God can and will use them to shape our souls into his Son’s image. No matter how many bumps we may hit or bends we may have to negotiate as we travel along life’s road while raising our children, Father God promises to guide our steps, strengthen our stride, and refresh our spirits every step of the way.

Life’s path is always made straighter, and the roadway made easier when we have a properly established “Spiritual Root” in our life. I urge you to make certain you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ personally and have accepted Him into your life as your personal Savior. Once you have such a personal relationship with Christ, you can then assist your other family members to establish such a relationship for themselves. There is great strength and wisdom in the truth of life that says….“the family that prays together,…stays together.” And that is the way that God wants it to be.

Have a Great Forever……………