Home Ideals - No. 3 by Mrs. I. H. E.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 15, 1915

Home Ideals — No. 3

By Mrs. I. H. E.

NEXT to love, cheerfulness is one of the most essential qualifications for those who would build an ideal home. It dissipates gloom, it radiates sunshine, it imparts peace, it sheds fragrance everywhere. Like mercy, cheerfulness is “twice blessed;” it blesses those who come under its beneficent influence, it returns in showers of joy to the heart that sends it forth. “Blessed are the happiness makers,” said Henry Ward Beecher; and he might well have added, “for theirs is the kingdom of home.”

There is no other place where good temper counts for so much, or where its lack may work such ill, as in the home. There the mother spends her days—with joy to herself and her family if hers be a cheerful, sunny heart. There her husband finds rest and peace; in her happy smiles his own perplexities take wing. “What does it matter how things hurt abroad, so long as we are happy and cheerful at home?” he says, and returns to his burdens refreshed and encouraged.

The children of a cheerful-hearted mother may not be able to put their feelings into words, but their lives tell the story to all who will read. To her they bring all their sorrows, their troubles, their misunderstandings and hurts, and are soothed and comforted. And how often they are able to smile, with mother, over what was so hard to bear alone!

Unless home is to come far short of its ideal, there must be in it at least one cheerful, pleasant, happy presence,—a “heart at leisure from itself,” to drive away care and depression, and bring smiles and laughter and singing in their place. Was it not such a heart as this that wise Solomon had in mind when he said, “A merry heart hath a continual feast,” “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance,” and, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine”?.

Nor should the duty of cheerfulness be laid entirely on the mother. Father as well as mother should contribute to the good cheer of the family life. A surly, critical attitude on the part of either parent will neutralize all the efforts of the other to maintain a cheerful home.

A Christian home, a cheerful home—the terms should be synonymous. All the precious graces of human character—goodness, gentleness, truthfulness, purity, reverence, honor—unfold their tender petals in its atmosphere; while their very opposites, like rank and noisome weeds, spring to life in the dwellings where ill temper, discouragement, selfishness, and evil speaking are found. A fretful, nagging temperament will nip and blight all the buds and blossoms of joy and happiness.

Some persons are temperamentally cheerful. They are “born cheerful,” we say. No matter under what circumstances they are placed, they can find something to be happy over; it is easier for them to be happy than not. They “have the gift of finding joy everywhere, and leaving it behind them when they go.” Others are naturally gloomy and sad. Often they are not satisfied with things as they are, and their inability to bring about the changes they wish makes them discontented and unhappy. They magnify the ills of life. Yet there is no healing in mourning and repining. Cheerful Heart is halfway up the hill while Sad Heart sits grieving at its foot.

One can discipline himself never to let a complaining word pass his lips. To be sure, “to be bright and cheerful often requires an effort; there is a certain art in keeping ourselves happy; in this respect, as in others, we require to watch over and manage ourselves almost as if we were somebody else.” And those who, facing life and its problems with a naturally gloomy disposition, have the strength of character to overcome it, are the real joy givers of the world. To their gift of imparting happiness is added the sympathy that can come only from those who have suffered.

What a joy to enter a home where cheerfulness reigns! Better than a money millionaire’s palace is the home of a “millionaire of cheerfulness.” It is like a taste of heaven. Then let us smile, and be happy in our hearts. Even in sorrow and loss we need not yield to depressing influences, but by faith look up to the blue beyond the clouds.

MRS. I. H. E.