A Letter to a Younger Sister
By MARTHA E. WARNER
MY DEAR ALICE: In your last letter you wrote: “I am busy from morning till night, yet my work is never done. Send me something to help me.” Perhaps the reason your work is never done is because you lack system. Many young housekeepers, confronted with the responsibilities and cares of a home, become confused and discouraged when the work piles up, and their strength seems insufficient for their many tasks. We all admire a capable house-mother, who is able to “turn off work,” and keep her home and her family in order. But sometimes the fact is overlooked that good household management is not all in swiftness or in strength; much of it is in a well-thought-out plan, a careful systematizing of work and time. In my reading lately I have noted some paragraphs that may be a help to you:— “System is everything. The lack of appreciating order and system in the arrangement of family matters leads to destructiveness and working to great disadvantage. “God tests and proves us by the common occurrences of life. Oh, how important it is that faithfulness in little things characterize our lives, and that we ever bear in mind that angels of God are taking cognizance of every act!” With the thought in mind that you are doing the work of God, take time to plan out a daily schedule of your work for the week. “Some who are engaged in domestic labor are always at work; it is not because they have so much to do, but they16do not plan in such a way as to have time. They should give themselves a certain time to accomplish their tasks, and make every move tell. You should have regular hours for rising, for praying, and for eating. One hour wasted in the morning is lost never to be recovered. Do but one thing at a time, and do that well, finishing it before you begin a second piece of work. Every one is required of God to execute the work assigned him with thoroughness and dispatch.” Do not fret because some one else is doing a greater work than you. Just thank God for the work he has given to you, and remember that “by earnest, conscientious faithfulness in everything, earth may be brought nearer heaven, and precious fruit may be borne for both worlds.”