And now for something completely different...

I've talked much in this blog about the blessings of marriage and family in my life. Sometimes pictures are worth a thousand words.

Here is the light of my life on the day we were married.

Here we are on the occasion of our daughter's first communion, at the restaurant where we had our wedding reception! How's that for coming full circle!

And finally - that "quiver full of arrows" referred to in Psalm 127.

Wisdom from the past on the Blessings of Family

I have posted in the past of the importance of marriage and family in God's eyes as I have come to understand these things. Here are a couple of my favorite scriptures that seem particularly clear on the plan of the Father in this regard.

Psalms 127
1 Unless the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build. Unless the LORD guard the city, in vain does the guard keep watch.

2 It is vain for you to rise early and put off your rest at night, To eat bread earned by hard toil-- all this God gives to his beloved in sleep.

3 Children too are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children born in one's youth.
5 Blessed are they whose quivers are full. They will never be shamed contending with foes at the gate.

Psalms 128
1 Happy are all who fear the LORD, who walk in the ways of God.
2 What your hands provide you will enjoy; you will be happy and prosper:

3 Like a fruitful vine your wife within your home, Like olive plants your children around your table.
4 Just so will they be blessed who fear the LORD.

5 May the LORD bless you from Zion, all the days of your life That you may share Jerusalem's joy 6 and live to see your children's children. Peace upon Israel!

The Value of Life

Imagine a war where the casualties were over a million people a year. Imagine a war where the combatants had no regard for the lives of children or women. If such a war were occurring somewhere in the world, you would do something to stop it, wouldn't you?

That war is going on, and the battleground is the United States of America.

The war is between ourselves and our misguided notion of "freedom" and the fundamental laws of our being and Creator. It is between those who would follow God's law ("Thou shalt not kill") and those who value their own liberty and convenience over the life of another. It is the war against legalized abortion on demand.

Scripture says again and again, that God created us and knew us even as we were in our mother's wombs. (Psalm 139:19, Psalm 22:10, Galations 1:15,...). He also says children are a great blessing (Psalm 127:3). He condemns most strongly those who would sacrifice their own children (2 Kings 17:17).

In the Old Testament, he lays before the nation of Israel a choice. (Deuteronomy 30:16)

"If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land...

If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land...

I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live"

These words seem clear. It could hardly be argued that America is walking in God's ways any longer. We will not even allow his name to be uttered in public.

In the words of Father John Corapi:

"If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the United States, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actions that they are enemies of God - total collapse, economic, social, and national.
The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise of a nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man."

A nation without God in the public square is a nation without a soul. A nation that despises God's law is doomed. You need only to look to history to see the outcome of nations without a strong moral fabric.

Stand up for what you know to be right. Stand up for life and liberty as the forefathers of this great nation did. And remember - Freedom doesn't always mean the ability to do "what you want". The greatest freedom with the greatest outcome, is when we see ourselves as free to serve others, and ultimately to serve the God that gives and preserves life. That is a freedom that Americans have most uniquely had for the last couple hundred years, but it can be taken away.