Basic HTML Version
Importance of Self-Government
377
instead of influencing you. Instead of having a softening, elevating
influence upon you, there is danger of her thinking as you think,
and acting as you act, without reaching down deep to be guided by
principle in all her actions. You sympathize with each other, and,
unfortunately, help each other to view matters incorrectly. She can
exert an influence for good, but she possesses a spirit which savors
of spiritual indolence and sloth. She is reluctant to engage in any
good work if it is not pleasant and agreeable. What was the sin of
Meroz? Doing nothing. It was not because of great crimes that they
were condemned, but because they did not come up to the help of
the Lord.
I was shown that your wife does not understand herself. She
shunned caretaking in her youth and is not disposed to engage in it
even now. She is inclined to lean upon others, rather than upon her
own powers. She has not encouraged a noble independence. She
should, for years back, have been educating herself to bear burdens.
She is not in health. She is predisposed to torpidity of the liver and
is not inclined to exercise. She has not the faculty of setting herself
to work unless she sees that she must. She eats nearly double the
amount which she ought to eat. All that she takes into her stomach,
above that which her system can convert into good blood, becomes
waste matter, to burden nature in the disposal of it. Her system is
[428]
clogged with a mass of matter which hinders her in her work, clogs
the machinery, and weakens the life forces.
Taking more food into the system than it can convert into good
blood causes a depraved quality of blood and taxes the vitality to a
much greater degree than labor or physical exercise. This overeating
causes a dull stupor. The brain nerves are called upon to aid the
digestive organs, and are thus constantly overtaxed, weakened, and
benumbed. This leaves a sense of dullness in the head, and makes
your wife liable to a shock of paralysis any day. What she requires
is not encouragement to cease exercise. There would be nothing so
dangerous for her as to remain where her physical powers would
not be called into active exercise. Physical exercise is very essential.
This will strengthen her body and mind. When she awakes to the
responsibility of her position, and sees the benefit which will result
from her seeking to have an aim in life, she will not be so disposed
to sink down in indolence and to shun hardships. She does not put