When God created the dog He said:

‘Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.’

The dog said: ‘That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?’

So God agreed..

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:

‘Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.’

The monkey said: ‘Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?’

And God agreed. On the third day, God created the cow and said:

‘You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.’

The cow said: ‘That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?’

And God agreed again. On the fourth day, God created man and said:

‘Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.’

But man said: ‘Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?’

‘Okay,’ said God, ‘You asked for it.’

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family.. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

by Carolyn Mahaney
Surprise! We find ourselves engaged to be married but without a degree in homemaking.

Girls often spend years of intensive study for other professions and yet are completely unprepared to assume the career of homemaking. As I wrote in my book Feminine Appeal, “Isn’t it telling that our culture requires training and certification for so many vocations of lesser importance, but hands us marriage and motherhood without instruction?”

Those early habits, which would have made domestic care a light and easy task, have never been taught, for fear it would interrupt their happiness; and the result is, that when cares come, as come they must, they find them misery. I am convinced that indifference and dislike between husband and wife are more frequently occasioned by this great error in education, than by any other cause.

But the truth is that homemaking involves so much more than just cleaning a house. The commands in Scripture to love, follow, and help a husband; to raise children for the glory of God; and to manage a home encompass a vast responsibility. Homemaking requires an extremely diverse array of skills everything from management abilities, to knowledge of health and nutrition, to interior decorating capabilities, to childhood development expertise. If you are to become an effective homemaker, then you must study these subjects and many more.

So homemaking is a career that demands considerable expertise, may encompass decades of our lives, and has the potential to spread the gospel to our families, churches, communities, and future generations. Now that’s a career worth preparing for, wouldn’t you say?

the point is that we must not pursue any career to the neglect of training to be a homemaker. God has called us to be the keepers of the home; thus I want to urge you to give careful attention to your education for this profession.

Scripture says that the older women should teach the young women to be effective home managers and to love their husbands and children (Titus 2:3–5). As with all other aspects of biblical womanhood, it is the mother’s job to teach and the daughter’s job to learn.

And what an exciting task this is! We have the privilege of training our daughters to do what we love to do best to be homemakers and world-changers for the gospel.

We should speak often to them about the joys of being a wife, mother, and homemaker. Because when you hang around someone who is enthusiastic about her career, it rubs off on you. So let’s spread some homemaking enthusiasm to our daughters.

This means—and I know this might be a radical concept—that our daughters need to be at home sometimes.

This is a great article that everyone of our ladies should read. Just click on the link above on the author’s name. I would love to see the ladies of Vision get together and discuss this entire article.

Mr BELOVED BROTHER RICE :

In encouraging other young men to come out as missionaries, do use the greatest caution.

One wrong-headed, conscientiously obstinate fellow would ruin us.

Humble, quiet, persevering men ; men of sound, sterling talents, (though, perhaps, not brilliant,) of decent accomplishments, and some natural aptitude to acquire a language ; men of an amiable, yielding temper, willing to take the lowest place, to be the least of all and the servants of all; men who enjoy much closet religion, who live near to God, and are willing to suffer all things for Christ’s sake, without being proud of it, these are the men.

But O, how unlike to this description is the writer of it!

Still, however, I am, with never ceasing affection, Your most affectionate brother in the Lord,

A. JUDSON, JR.

I am reading a biography of Adoniram Judson by Francis Wayland. I found this to be very interesting. He writes a letter to Luther Rice who is helping him raise up men to work with Adoniram in Burma.

Read carefully what Adoniram wanted Luther to look for. I could certainly work at cultivating these characteristics.