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The Mother’s Opportunity in Her Home

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 17, 1914

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 39.

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The Mother’s Opportunity in Her Home

By Edyth Bollman

EDYTH BOLLMAN
THE greatest missionary in the world is the Christian mother. To her are given the most wonderful and precious of all opportunities; namely, the training of soldiers for the cross of Christ, the care of those who shall be citizens of the heavenly kingdom, the purchase of the blood of Christ.
Never was such a privilege offered mothers as today, when the army of the Lord calls loudly for young men and women, well disciplined, to go up against the mighty. The foundation for a good soldier, one who can endure hardship, be true to principle, and lay hold of God’s promises by a faith that cannot be shaken, is laid at home under the tender yet firm hand of Christian parents.
A true mother prays much and is a diligent student of God’s Word. She hungers and thirsts after righteousness. The law of kindness, truth, and gentleness is in her mouth. She follows the instructions of the Word in teaching her loved ones the law of liberty. In her life the children see loyalty to the commandments of God. She is a living epistle to them. And so our Heavenly Father intended; for the first conception a child receives of its duty to love and obey comes through its earthly parents. Its tiny mind for years does not know any other authority of God than that expressed in father and mother. Do we realize the exalted position given us? Are we conscious of the grave responsibility we have undertaken in bringing children into a world filled with corruption and sin on every hand?
To one outside of Christ the task is unequal, but to those who abide ‘under the shadow of his wing,’ is the promise found in Isa. 49: 24, 25: ‘Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.’ The Word is full of such promises, yet they are all conditional. Obedience and faith make them ours.
Our Heavenly Father would have us learn the lesson of obedience well before we undertake to teach, for how can we inspire the children to loyalty to all God’s demands unless we manifest loyalty to him in our daily lives? Our perfect submission to God’s law measures our love to our Creator just as truly as an obedient child tells its love by doing that which pleases mother. The only really happy child is the one who without question obeys the request of its parents. And so it is with God’s children. He designs that his laborers shall be sustained by his grace and power. He has chosen us out of the world that we may be a peculiar and holy people. Our words and actions must be guarded, pure, and uplifting.
The Bible is the source of all true education, and explicit directions for gaining wisdom may be found in its sacred pages. As knowledge is power, and we wish our children to take hold of that which will fit them to carry on through eternity a search for wisdom, we must begin here. God tells us that ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.’ We are instructed to teach our children diligently God’s laws, to talk of them at all times, and bind them for a sign upon our hands. If we hearken unto this admonition, our children will be able to say in time of temptation, as did David of old, ‘Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.’
Can you not see, dear mother, your position and labor of love? Jesus says to you, ‘Take this son, this daughter, to train for me.’ O, blessed work! Shall we not with joy accept so great an honor? Think of it,— the King of kings invites you to be a colaborer with him in the fitting of your loved ones for a home in the earth made new.
Children if left alone will not naturally search the Scriptures, and so in their early years we must by patient teaching and example instill into their hearts and minds the claims of God’s law, and faith in the atoning sacrifice to cleanse and keep from sin. When we do this, we lay a foundation that all the evil hosts of Satan are unable to shake. Point your children to Christ. Lift the cross of Calvary in your homes, that your children may look and live. Regulate their characters by love to him who gave his life for them. When they behold what manner of love the Father has for them, the Holy Spirit will find an easy access to their hearts, and that sweet ‘still small voice’ will guide the youthful feet when perhaps mother’s voice is forever still. Her work, so patiently begun in early years and carried on with many tears and agonizing prayers, will see its fruition in a young life choosing to serve God and be loyal to that which is true and pure.
We may compare our children to a garden in which are tiny plants growing up to perfection, carefully trained and cared for by the faithful gardener. The soil of our children’s hearts must be enriched by the Word of God, all noxious weeds removed, and the seeds of truth made to germinate and grow by the sunlight of God’s love. It is of utmost importance that a mother gain the confidence of her children, that they may come to her with anything, without the least fear of misunderstanding, sure of loving sympathy and wise counsel.
Teach the children the laws of their being; cultivate their moral faculties. Impurity abounds on every hand, and your child is sure to come in contact sooner or later with its deadly influence. Fortify the mind against evil by a knowledge of truth. Unfold to the opening mind little by little the mysteries of life.
Mothers, in this age of infidelity believe in God; take him at his word, and claim his precious promises; they are for you. Your life and the lives of your children will then be filled with that joy and peace that the world knows not. We are on the borderland of the heavenly Canaan, and God speaks to parents now as he did to Joshua: ‘I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. . . . For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.’