A QUIET MIND | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 20, 1881

A QUIET MIND.

MOST of us have found how much easier it is to bear up bravely under a great misfortune than to act with patience, good temper, and courage when little things go wrong. How many times a day are we tried and harassed in the family! One person is apt to be irritated at trifles, and to speak petulantly and hastily when provoked. Nothing spreads more quickly than such an infirmity. It is as subtle as malaria, and as hard to overcome. If father or mother have the habit of speaking in a harsh, rasping voice, or of magnifying little faults into great crimes, the children will soon learn the trick of scowling brows and cross words. We never hear a little girl scolding her doll, in uplifted tones, nor striking and shaking it, without a suspicion that in that way she sees the home government administered. And when we observe gentleness, sweetness, and unselfishness predominating in the conduct of children, the inference is natural that they live in a sunny atmosphere, and have beautiful examples set before them daily.

How often we mothers have gone from our rooms, where we have had a tender season of communion with God, have read precious promises in his Book, and been strengthened against need, and then, secure as we thought against temptation, have had all the peace banished by some untoward occurrence! To enter the parlor and find that Jennie is playing with the china which is your pride, or that Tommy has made a horse of your frail Japanese chair; to have a favorite book, which you loaned in the goodness of your heart, come home stained and torn; to go to the kitchen and be confronted by the stupidity or obstinacy of an ignorant servant,—these are common experiences, and how often our self-control flies before them! It is as humiliating as it is common to find that when we are on the level of our highest moods we are apt to be swept down to our lowest.

How can we exercise ourselves so as to have a quiet mind? In two or three ways.

We cannot invariably control our thoughts and impulses, but our words and our tones are in our own power. We may resolve to preserve silence when we are exasperated, till we feel calm, and never to elevate our tones when annoyed. A low, clear voice is a great charm in a woman; and when it is a mother's, it has an almost magical influence in the maintaining of harmony in the household.

If we would have a quiet mind, we must give fair play to this house in which our mind dwells. Often the temper is uncertain and fortitude breaks down because the body is worn out by illness or sleeplessness. Let us resolve to secure some needed repose, and some small space of solitude every day. There should be one room to which, morning or afternoon, we may retire, and be safe from intrusion, while we read, meditate, or pray.

Let us make daily and practical use of our Bibles. They are full of help, of instruction, and of comfort. We can open them nowhere without finding some thought of God, outshining like a star, and dispensing its brilliant light for our cheer and guidance. The way of perfect trust is the only peaceful way in this world, and they have most of its joy who dwell nearest the heavenly Father.—Christian at Work.