“Since men live on earth, God has given them a lasting reminder that this earth stands under the curse of sin and is not itself the ultimate reality. Over the destiny of woman and of man lies the dark shadow of a word of God’s wrath, a burden from God, which they must carry. The woman must bear her children in pain, and in providing for his family the man must reap many thorns and thistles, and labor in the sweat of his brow.
This burden should cause both man and wife to call on God, and should remind them of their eternal destiny in His kingdom. Earthly society is only the beginning of the heavenly society, the earthly home an image of the heavenly home, the earthly family a symbol of the fatherhood of God.”
–Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “A Wedding Sermon from a Prison Cell,” Letters & Papers From Prison (New York: Touchstone, 1953/1997), 46.
