what do we cherish?

when all things fall apart around us and disrupts our lives and our home, what is the one stabilizing factor that remains in our lives? What gives us hope? What makes us feel like going on? Paul says in Corinthians that he wished that God would pour joy and peace into our lives as we trust him, so that we would overflow with hope; Hope is a constant in any and every situation. Because we have been through bad situations in the past we know that this crisis too will pass, and that things will get better. May we continue to cherish the spirit of hope and keep it alive in our hearts in the midst of obstacles and crises that invariably will come in a changing and reckless world. lauren

more common than you think

I met a couple of ladies recently whose marriages have been ripped apart by their desire to further their education. One as recently at today, who said her husband told her that if she went to nursing school it would cause an end to their marriage. She has almost finished a year of studies amid his interference in her life and his disruptive behavior towards those that she has been lodging with. His behavior has caused her to move house more than once. What is interesting is not that something like this could happen, but that it happens so often. Where are the other halves in our lives who should validate us and build us up? Why is it critical for some men to be the one with the greater earning power? What went wrong in the socialization of our men that they feel intimidated by strong educated women who earn their own money? One lady said her husband told her that if he had sent her to school in the earlier days of their relationship, she would have left him. Is it important for some men that women maintain a particular position financially, academically or otherwise in order for their relationships to 'work'? Why is there is a power struggle in our relationships?