Administration of Corrective Discipline
187
As you deal kindly and tenderly with your children, they and you
will receive the blessing of the Lord. And think you that in the day of
God’s judgment anyone will regret that he has been patient and kind
with his children
Nervousness Is No Excuse for Impatience—Parents sometimes
excuse their own wrong course because they do not feel well. They are
nervous and think they cannot be patient and calm and speak pleasantly.
In this they deceive themselves and please Satan, who exults that the
grace of God is not regarded by them as sufficient to overcome natural
infirmities. They can and should at all times control themselves. God
requires it of them
Sometimes when fatigued by labor or oppressed with care, parents
do not maintain a calm spirit, but manifest a lack of forbearance that
displeases God and brings a cloud over the family. Parents, when
you feel fretful, you should not commit so great a sin as to poison
[247]
the whole family with this dangerous irritability. At such times set
a double watch over yourselves and resolve that none but pleasant,
cheerful words shall escape your lips. By thus exercising self-control,
you will grow stronger. Your nervous system will not be so sensitive....
Jesus knows our infirmities and has Himself shared our experience in
all things but in sin; therefore He has prepared for us a path suited to
our strength and capacity.
Sometimes everything seems to go wrong in the family circle.
There is fretfulness all around, and all seem very miserable and un-
happy. The parents lay the blame upon their poor children and think
them very disobedient and unruly, the worst children in the world,
when the cause of the disturbance is in themselves. God requires them
to exercise self-control. They should realize that when they yield to
impatience and fretfulness, they cause others to suffer. Those around
them are affected by the spirit they manifest, and if they in their turn
act out the same spirit, the evil is increased
There Is Sometimes Power in Silence—Those who desire to
control others must first control themselves.... When a parent or teacher
9
Manuscript 114, 1903
.
10
Testimonies For The Church 1:385
.
11
The Signs of the Times, April 17, 1884
.