Home comforts! What a throng of delightful things come to mind at the mere mention of these two words. What words! Home. How much it means; how deep its meaning. How many personalities it includes--husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, grandparents, it may be, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends--often the dearest group the heart knows or ever expects to know--all who love us best and are most to us! The cradle in which the infancy of the family was rocked; the table around which a thousand times and more the loved ones were all gathered and ate together their joyous meals; the rooms where they worked and read and talked, where the children played and the young folks visited; the chambers and beds where they slept and dreamed; the altar where they knelt and prayed; the old bureau which kept mother's sacred things; the family clock, and the many, many things that made the dearest place in all the world. All these things come to mind when we take thoughtfully in mind this rich heart-word.

Then as to comforts. A catalogue of them would make a book, and the story of them a library. The morning greetings, the forenoon happy toils, the afternoon sit-downs and visits, sewings, readings, calls, varieties, and the evening quiets, rests, stories, and the thousand and one pleasant things which come to make the heart feel a great peace. Warmth, rest, plenty, love, books, friends--all these come in among the comforts, all the good things which the whole family has gathered into the home to give it a satisfying atmosphere. Home comforts, then, is an inventory of all best things. These are included in the companionship of marriage.

This, then, is what people marry for; this is the dream that infatuates them. It is not love only, but all to which it may lead the way, of friendship, plenty, peace, of home, comfort, heaven on earth. It is good that such a dream is in men's minds, that such possibilities are open to them. Not the best of everything is realized in every home, but something of everything. More is realized than could be without it. And the dream is always picturing something better. If but little is attained yet, a scanty home,--a great deal of heart can be put into it, and a great deal of hope inspired. There is a world of poetry in the homes of men, as well as plain solid prose; and more prophecy than prose or poetry. Every home heart is a prophet of better things to come--of a fairer home and a completer life and fuller and richer comforts awaken a longing for a more lasting and spiritual one elsewhere, when this shall be left. This is a symbol of another and a better. These temporal experiences, that fill the heart so full, are the seed sown in time for a harvest where frost and winters shall not come.

If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus...
Philippians 2:1-5