Call for Self-Improvement
51
to make your children perfect in character. Remember that such only
can see God....
Many parents are neglecting their God-given work. They are
themselves far from purity and holiness, and they do not see the defects
of their children as they would if their own eyes were beholding and
admiring the perfection of Christ’s character
How to Become an Ideal Mother—Instead of sinking into a mere
household drudge, let the wife and mother take time to read, to keep
herself well informed, to be a companion to her husband, and to keep
in touch with the developing minds of her children. Let her use wisely
the opportunities now hers to influence her dear ones for the higher
life. Let her take time to make the dear Saviour a daily companion
and familiar friend. Let her take time for the study of His Word, take
time to go with the children into the fields and learn of God through
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the beauty of His works.
Let her keep cheerful and buoyant. Instead of spending every
moment in endless sewing, make the evening a pleasant social season,
a family reunion after the day’s duties. Many a man would thus be led
to choose the society of his home before that of the clubhouse or the
saloon. Many a boy would be kept from the street or the corner grocery.
Many a girl would be saved from frivolous, misleading associations.
The influence of the home would be to parents and children what God
designed it should be, a lifelong blessing
Make a Success of Domestic Life—Counsel to a Mother—You
should not follow your own inclinations. You should be very careful
to set a right example in all things. Do not be inactive. Arouse your
dormant energies. Make yourself a necessity to your husband by being
attentive and helpful. Be a blessing to him in everything. Take up the
duties essential to be done. Study how to perform with alacrity the
plain, uninteresting, homely, but most needful duties which relate to
domestic life....
Try to make a success of your domestic life. It means more to fill
the position of wife and mother than you have thought.... You need
the culture and experience of domestic life. You need the variety, the
8
The Signs of the Times, July 1, 1886
.
9
The Ministry of Healing, 294
.