“Thoughts on Marriage: A Journey to Oneness” by Paul N. Munden is now available for purchase
“Whether we are a male and female being one, and ascribing to further become one in marriage or whether we live singly with God as our sole affection, God welcomes and relates to our person. He is the first and final friend to our existence. By His design, we will still have a name of our own in His eternal home.”
– an excerpt from the book
AR Press is honored to publish “Thoughts on Marriage: A Journey to Oneness” by Paul N. Munden. This book is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the ARPress website.
Author Paul N. Munden was born and raised in Norfolk, Va. Married 47 years to Mary Elizabeth Nein. Children, Laura, Catherine, and Robert. He graduated from Norview High School in 1972, Norfolk. Worked in forestry for 9 years, obtaining a BS in forest resource management (76 from Va Tech in Blacksburg, Va. Worked 33 years as a CPA, having obtained a post-baccalaureate certificate, 86, from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va. Obtained a Master of Religion with a concentration in workplace theology, in 2015, from Gordon Conwell Seminary in Beverly, MA. Now retired.
A very old memory returned to his thoughts. He knew the memory was very old, as he was a child standing on a sofa that is remembered as both being well worn and particularly located in the house in which he was raised. One day, his mother passed by, exiting the kitchen to my left and heading further back into the house to his right.
She paused briefly, looked at him, and yet spoke through and beyond him. She stated, “there has to be more to marriage than this”. He knew she was not expecting him to respond. She was not really speaking to him. And yet he heard her dismay, her struggle. She moved on with her day, and so did he with the child’s play.
So, the question of “more to marriage” was implanted, and he became an observer and ponderer of marriage, which was the best he could manage. As to his parents, from all that happened, or at least what he remembers, they spent their lives together, finding both less and more in marriage. More did win out, though less had a strong role at times.
For the author then, the task of making marriage the “more” and avoiding the “less” became a goal. Discovering “more” was later added to teenager ambitions for adulthood. Do not all teens swear to themselves not to repeat their parents’ past mistakes? Only to learn by the age of mid to late twenties that they are carrying their parent’s uncured burdens.
The goal here is to write about the “more.” There are many marriage writings that seek to improve and increase the “more.” The writers are better skilled at addressing the subject and associated specifics, much of which has to do with communications. Their efforts correct misunderstandings and mistakes, which is very helpful.
This is a discussion of successful marriage as linked to God’s image, from over 40 years of notes and thoughts.
“Thoughts on Marriage: A Journey to Oneness” by Paul N. Munden is now available for purchase via ARPress Bookstore: https://authorreputationpress.com/bookstore/thoughts-on-marriage-a-journey-to-oneness/.