p. 14 | Symmetrical Character Development

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 16, 1916

Symmetrical Character Development

By WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN

WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN

In the mountains where the echo slumbers do you like to linger awhile and waken it over and over again? Are you enraptured by the quiet lake which so clearly reflects the mountains sloping to its edge that you can scarcely discern the dividing line? Or, when night throws her mantle over all else, do you revel in watching each new star that blooms in the heaven, counting them until they spring forth too fast to number?

“No,” says one; “I live on a plain with neither lake nor river beside our city, whose glare and smoke hide the luminous eyes of night.” Ah, your children are echoes of your thoughts and aspirations; they are reflectors of their environment; and, in addition, new glimmerings of traits of loveliness or sordidness will spring forth before you are aware of them. Here you will find a nature study that will tax your ability to its utmost, and crown your efforts, not with fleeting, but with permanent results.

From my window I view fir trees that are pleasing to the eye. There are two, however, which have had their tops lopped off either by storm or because some one desired that nothing should obstruct the view of the snow-capped mountain beyond. Nature has sought to make up for this deficiency. The branches now left at the top are larger than they should be in proportion to the lower ones. These trees will always lack the beauty of symmetry.

As mothers we should strive for a symmetrical development in soul, mind, and body. Sometimes we have erred in reversing the order,— in thinking that the infant requires only bodily attention, that the little child needs also some attention to its mental development, but only later is attention to be given to soul growth. But the three must forever go hand in hand.

Take vigilant care of bodily growth and leave the mental or spiritual unattended, and it will not be left barren soil. It is while men sleep that the enemy sows tares. The child you regard as “so innocent” may have learned more evil and erroneous ideas in a day than you can obliterate in a week. It may have imbibed them from associates, from undesirable books, or from conversation overheard. To correct a wrong conception of anything is much harder than to teach truth to the ignorant. When I was a small lassie, some one gave me a booklet called “Little Robin Redbreast.” The bird was pictured with a flaming-red breast, and I gleaned the idea that he was very tiny. There were no robins in our vicinity. Now when robins hop about our yard, I find myself correcting, by comparison, my very youthful idea of them.

If your child is a natural lover of books, it is so much easier to let her remain curled up in a chair with a favorite volume than to call her to dishwashing or some similar task. You would prefer to let the lad continue his play or work at his invention than to disturb him with thoughts of an empty wood box or of other chores. Remember the tree. Do not foster an unsymmetrical growth. The beloved son or daughter will suffer in after years from your neglect.

Teach the children that no work is degrading; that all labor, if done for our King, is granted his commendation. In the sanctuary service the priest held an office of honor. His duties were more or less spectacular. But lowly service also was his. He was to “take up the ashes” that accumulated from the burning offerings, “and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place.” Every menial task, whether of the altar or within the veil, was committed to the priests, and was to be done by them alone; yet was not all this, when done for Jehovah, acceptable service to him?

The students in our schools not only have set before them the ideal of doing work for the Lord when their preparation is completed, but opportunities are given for actual work while they are in training. In the home school, before the children are old enough to leave the paternal roof, the mother has the opportunity of directing their minds to unselfish thought and to service for others, and should let them into the secret of being little helping hands.

If you are making up a box for some mission, let the children contribute even to the point of sacrifice, perhaps some cherished toy or doll. If you are planning for some neighbor’s comfort, let them help in some way. Admit them to your councils, so they may feel they have a part in the matter. Some one, perhaps, is invited to your home who needs cheering on life’s rugged way. Let the children minister to such. There is no stimulant so excellent as that of feeling that some one needs you—that you may really contribute to his happiness. It will require thought and planning for the mother to implant in her children the desire to minister to others, but she should not fail to improve every opportunity.

When the child has some choice edible given him, teach him the joy of sharing it. Sometimes a mother refrains from accepting a portion herself, so Johnnie or Mary may have it all, not thinking that by so doing she is contributing toward the formation of a self-centered character. Have the little folks share the use of their playthings with their companions. Unselfishness is one of the underlying principles of a character that can bear the signet of heaven.

Symmetry of our threefold natures will not hide the view of the Perfect One from any. It will make more attractive the perfection of his life. The mother’s goal is that her children may be called “trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.”

Portland, Oregon.