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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
not felt that it was your duty to take your mind off yourself and labor
for their happiness and well-being. You have given way to impatience,
and have harshly reproved your children. This has only confirmed
them in their evil ways and severed the cords of affection that should
bind the hearts of parents and children together.
You have lacked self-control and have censured your husband in
the presence of your children; this has lessened his authority over them,
and yours also. You have been very weak; when your children have
come to you with complaints of others, you have immediately decided
in their favor, and have unwisely censured and blamed those of whom
they complained. This has cherished in the minds of your children a
disposition to murmur against those who do not pay them the deference
they imagine they deserve. You have indirectly encouraged this spirit
instead of silencing it. You have not dealt with your children as firmly
and justly as you should have done.
[104]
You have had trials. You have been oppressed in mind. You have
been discouraged, but have unjustly charged this unhappiness upon
others. The main cause is to be found in yourself. You have failed
to make your home what it should be and what it might have been.
It is yet in your power to correct the faults there. Come out of that
cold and stiff reserve. Give more love, rather than exact it; cultivate
cheerfulness; let the sunshine into your heart, and it will shine upon
those about you; be more social in your manners; seek to gain the
confidence of your children, that they may come to you for advice and
counsel; encourage in them humility and unselfishness, and set before
them the right example.
Awake, my dear brother and sister, to the needs of your family. Do
not be blinded, but take hold of the work unitedly, calmly, prayerfully,
and in faith. Set your house in order, and God will bless your efforts.
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