November 16

November 16 – AM           Page 54, We Agnostics, Chapter 4

We found, too, that we had been worshippers.  What a state of mental goose-flesh that used to bring on!  Had we not variously worshipped people, sentiment, things, money, and ourselves?  And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully beheld the sunset, the sea, or a flower?  Who of us had not loved something or somebody?  How much did these feelings, these loves, these worships, have to do with pure reason?  Little or nothing, we saw at last.  Were not these things the tissue out of which our lives were constructed? Did not these feelings, after all, determine the course of our existence?  It was impossible to say we had no capacity for faith, or love, or worship.  In one form or another we had been living by faith and little else.

November 16 – PM          Page 118, To Wives, Chapter 8

You and your husband will find that you can dispose of serious problems easier than you can the trivial ones.  Next time you and he have a heated discussion, no matter what the subject, it should be the privilege of either to smile and say, “This is getting serious.  I’m sorry I got disturbed.  Let’s talk about it later.”  If your husband is trying to live on a spiritual basis, he will also be doing everything in his power to avoid disagreement or contention.
Your husband knows he owes you more than sobriety.  He wants to make good.  Yet you must not expect too much.  His ways of thinking and doing are the habits of years. Patience, tolerance, understanding and love are the watchwords.  Show him these things in yourself and they will be reflected back to you from him.  Live and let live is the rule.  If you both show a willingness to remedy your own defects, there will be little need to criticize each other.