Proper Discipline and Education of our Children
259
to carry out His purposes. By prayer you may gain an experience that
will make your ministry for your children a perfect success
[201]
The power of a mother’s prayers cannot be too highly estimated.
She who kneels beside her son and daughter through the vicissitudes
of childhood, through the perils of youth, will never know till the
judgment the influence of her prayers upon the life of her children. If
she is connected by faith with the Son of God, the mother’s tender hand
may hold back her son from the power of temptation, may restrain
her daughter from indulging in sin. When passion is warring for
the mastery, the power of love, the restraining, earnest, determined
influence of the mother, may balance the soul on the side of right
After you have done your duty faithfully to your children, then
carry them to God and ask Him to help you. Tell Him that you have
done your part, and then in faith ask God to do His part, that which
you cannot do. Ask Him to temper their dispositions, to make them
mild and gentle by His Holy Spirit. He will hear you pray. He will
love to answer your prayers. Through His Word He has enjoined it
upon you to correct your children, to “spare not for their crying,” and
His Word is to be heeded in these things
Teach Respect and Courtesy
God has especially enjoined tender respect toward the aged. He
says, “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of
righteousness.”
Proverbs 16:31
. It tells of battles fought, and victories
gained; of burdens borne, and temptations resisted. It tells of weary
feet nearing their rest, of places soon to be vacant. Help the children
to think of this, and they will smooth the path of the aged by their
courtesy and respect, and will bring grace and beauty into their young
lives as they heed the command to “rise up before the hoary head, and
honor the face of the old man.”
Leviticus 19:32
Courtesy, also, is one of the graces of the Spirit and should be
cultivated by all. It has power to soften natures which without it would
grow hard and rough. Those who profess to be followers of Christ,
313
Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 131
314
The Adventist Home, 266
315
Child Guidance, 256, 257
316
Education, 244