Spring and Summer 2011

Dear Neighbor,

Spring is a lovely time of year to get married. The romance and excitement of courtship, the wedding and the honeymoon are like beautiful flowers in springtime. Flowers prepare trees and plants to bear fruit in the summer. In a similar way, courtship and marriage prepare a couple for having and raising children.

God is love itself. His primary purpose in creating the universe is that human beings may be born. He creates people so that He can love us and we can love Him, and He can make us happy forever.

The first thing He said to mankind when He created us was, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28). When we have children and teach them to follow the Lord, they have the opportunity to enter into a relationship with God and so come into eternal life. It is a wonderful thing that God allows us to participate in His most important work, creating human beings and preparing them for heaven.

In recent times we have tended to separate marriage from having children. But when a husband and wife each see raising children as something they can do together to serve the Lord, their teamwork in this great project draws them close to each other, more than in any other way.

Every worthwhile project takes work and commitment. By doing the work and keeping our commitments, we grow stronger and wiser. Nothing is worth more than giving birth to another human being and helping him or her grow up to be a useful citizen in this world and in the Lord’s kingdom forever. What greater gift can one person give another than to help him find eternal happiness? Parents give this gift to their children by loving them, teaching them, providing discipline when needed, and helping them learn to set boundaries for themselves, following the Lord’s Word.

As we celebrate weddings with friends and family, we can think of how the happiness is just beginning for the newlyweds. The Lord God has a continuing, growing stream of blessings in store for them, to eternity. The beautiful flowers are designed to lead to a bountiful harvest, full of seeds for new plants and trees, with endless variety. Happiness, satisfaction and peace come with useful work, and the greatest use, the very purpose of creation, is fulfilled in marriage. So we can wish for newlyweds that their beautiful spring may lead to a fulfilling summer and so through the years to continual new springtimes forever.

You are always welcome to worship at Kempton New Church on Sundays at 10:00 a.m.

Best wishes,

Rev. Lawson M. Smith