p. 13 | Home Environment by Roxetta Runck

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 24, 1914

Home Environment

By Roxetta Runck

ROXETTA RUNCK

In studying the best environments of home life let us try to picture the home our Heavenly Father chose for his Son on this earth. It was surrounded by the beauties of nature, and God's handiwork spoke to its inmates. The mother had

time to take Jesus to the fields and woods, there to listen to the songs of the birds and to study the grandeur of the trees and the beauty of the flowers. This home was a home of simplicity and toil, and in it Jesus learned lessons of economy and hardship, as he grew to manhood.

“A home cannot be a home if the element of stability is lacking in its construction. Satan's greatest apparent triumph in earth was in making it seem that the home must necessarily come under the same law of mutability by which he had succeeded in honeycombing all human conditions. But the home is established forever, though its counterfeits may come and go with every change of wind and tide. It is the privilege of every home maker to build on the foundation that cannot be moved.”

Home makers should consider the environment of the home. Lot located his home for wealth. His children grew up in a wicked city, and the time came when he had to flee for his life, leaving the greater part of his family behind to be destroyed with the wicked city. Plan for health, for comfort, and for purity. Systematize the labor and minimize the work. Then the mother will have time to read and study and be a companion to her husband and her children.

Each member should share the work of the home. Train the child early to bear responsibilities. Children are anxious to be helpful. It will take time and patience to train the little hands to be skillful, but it is worth while. This privilege should be a pleasure, not a task. Soon the little one will learn to be a real help, and the active mind and hands will be occupied, giving the tempter no time nor room to sow his seeds of evil in these young, tender lives. Thus reared, their minds and bodies will develop in the right way.

The mother should be careful not to work beyond her strength. Overtaxing the nerves causes her to become irritable and fretful, and unfitted to direct the child, and to bring the cheer and comfort into her home due her family. If the mother is nervous and irritable, she conveys her feeling to the children, and instead of harmony and peace, discord and fretfulness reign. Under such strained conditions, the tempter seeks entrance, and in an unguarded moment harsh words are uttered, sharp blows are given, and little hearts are made sad and hungry for mother's love. The husband and father, finding his home in such a warped condition, seeks comfort elsewhere. By degrees the parents grow away from each other and from their children. Love no longer crowns this home. Children do not develop characters in such homes that enable them to cope with the deep problems of life.

In these days of increasing evil, let us guard against the tide of wickedness that is overtaking our youth and homes. It is the home that binds society, and links hearts in the most sacred ties. So strive for the betterment of the home. Create normal conditions in which the youth can grow up with healthy minds and bodies. Send pure, noble manhood and womanhood from the parental roof, characters that will inspire and uplift humanity.