A Precious Bit of Encouragement
THERE IS some danger in this day of progress and advancement that we may lose sight of the thing that is really gold, while we rush on after that which only glitters. This seems to be a time when woman is leaving the mountain peaks of her nature and is drifting out into broader fields of activity. She stands beside her brother in the professions, the arts, and the sciences. She even aspires to hold a place in the industries of the world. She takes contracts for the construction of great buildings, she swings the hammer, and blows the bellows. There is scarcely a position held by man that woman does not occupy. In the midst of all these activities one can but wonder what has become of motherhood. True it is that God has called many noble mothers into public life, and used them mightily for the advancement of reforms. But is there not danger in the midst of all this glitter of our overlooking the gold of womanhood—the work of the mother in her own home? Is there not danger of her feeling that her work is unimportant, and of little worth? To such there is precious encouragement found on page 144 of “Counsels to Teachers:”— “The mother’s work often seems to her an unimportant service. It is a work that is rarely appreciated. Others know little of her many cares and burdens. Her days are occupied with a round of little duties, all calling for patient effort, for self-control, for tact, wisdom, and self-sacrificing love; yet she cannot boast of what she has done as any great achievement. She has only kept things in the home running smoothly. Often weary and perplexed, she has tried to speak kindly to the children, to keep them busy and happy, and to guide their little feet in the right path. She feels that she has accomplished nothing. But it is not so. Heavenly angels watch the careworn mother, noting the burdens she carries day by day. Her name may not have been heard in the world, but it is written in the Lamb’s book of life.”