The Right Romance In Marriage by Cathy Rice

About a year ago, one of the women in our church began working to revive our library.  Her first effort was to get members in the habit of using the library again.  In order to reach this goal, the librarians have held quarterly challenges for the last year.  This has been a fun way to become reacquainted with the long lost cupboards in the basement of our Church building.

Even though, I love to read, I wouldn't otherwise visit our church library because 1- I don't have much time for reading and when I do have time to read I use it for Bible reading.  2- Most of the books that are in our church library, I have already read and many of them are in our personal library.

However, I have still tried to be part of the challenge because I want to encourage these ladies and because it gets my children really excited.  This quarter I had a little extra incentive to be involved because our oldest girls were in charge of planning and executing the challenge.

They decided on a  plunder with the idea of finding the treasure hidden within the library.  I had fun watching them spend a few days working out the details and using their magic to design a display and treasure map.  Among the items we had to check off was memorizing Revelation 1:3, finding words hidden in a book within the library, seeking the scriptures for verses referring to the study of the written word and asking the Pastor for the name of his favorite book.

To meet part of the challenge I needed to check out a book last Sunday.  I dug for something I hadn't already read and came up with The Right Romance in Marriage by Cathy Rice.   I chose this one for three reasons.  1- I hadn't read it.  2- I love these sorts of books (marriage, child training, organization, home making).  3- This was a vintage book and I adore vintage books.

But truthfully, I didn't expect to get too excited about this little yellow edition because really, I think, I have read it all when it comes to how we are to be a good wife.   And really, everyone seems to say the same thing but in more words than the last guy.

I was so delightfully wrong.

Mrs.  Rice wrote this little gem in 1966, after 30 years of wedded bliss spent raising four children while serving beside her good husband ministering to the deaf.

Wow!

Is really too small a word for this tiny book.  Mrs. Rice doesn't say anything I haven't heard or read before. But she says it all so simply and beautifully it is a breath of fresh air.  I read so many books that say just one thing and take 206 pages to do it as they seemingly strive to say it in a fancier or more complicated way than the last gal did.

To begin with, I am not a very cerebral person.  I just want to know what I need to know and do what needs to be done.

For another thing, it really doesn't make much sense.  In this day and age when we have more to do than ever, why are we saying the same old thing over and over?  And why, please do tell me, do we waste so many words saying it when we scarcely have time to read the ones that are already written?  If it has already been said, why waste time saying it again?

In all those words, I am saying Cathy Rice says all a wife and mother really needs to hear to last through her life with Christ, her marriage and her child rearing years and she does it in just 128 pages.  She says it clearly and concisely giving enough anecdotes to keep it interesting and enough personal and real life examples to make her point clear to the reader.

In this tiny volume she covers topics such as waiting for God's perfect choice for you mate, God's plan for marriage, sex, romance, child training, ministry, growing old together and so much more.  There is also a beautiful introduction by her husband, Dr. Bill Rice.

This book is required reading for our daughters and I will be adding a copy to their hope chests.  You can find it over here at Amazon or at eBay.

I recommend this book for every woman who is married or plans on being married one day, but especially for the young brides to be.