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I Will Use Self-Control in Eating, March 19
Exercising Self-control
Blessed art thou, O land, when ... thy princes eat in due season, for
strength, and not for drunkenness!
Ecclesiastes 10:17
The observance of temperance and regularity in all things has a won-
derful power. It will do more than circumstances or natural endowments
in promoting that sweetness and serenity of disposition which count so
much in smoothing life’s pathway. At the same time the power of self-
control thus acquired will be found one of the most valuable equipments
for grappling successfully with the stern duties and realities that await
every human being.
We urge that the principles of temperance be carried into all the
details of home life; ... that self-denial and self-control should be taught
to the children, and enforced upon them, so far as consistent, from
babyhood.
Children should be taught that they must not have their own way, but
that the will of their parents must guide them. One of the most important
lessons in this connection is the control of appetite. They should learn
to eat at regular periods and to allow nothing to pass their lips between
these stated meals....
Children reared in this way are much more easily controlled than
those who are indulged in eating everything their appetite craves, and
at all times. They are usually cheerful, contented, and healthy. Even
the most stubborn, passionate, and wayward have become submissive,
patient, and possessed of self-control by persistently following up this
order of diet, united with a firm but kind management in regard to other
matters.
Let every youth in our land, with the possibilities before him of a
destiny higher than that of crowned kings, ponder the lesson conveyed
in the words of the wise man, “Blessed art thou, O land, when ... thy
princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!”
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