p. 13 | From the Heart by Mrs. I. H. E.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 13, 1916

From the Heart

By Mrs. I. H. E.

We hear a great deal about the importance of obedience,—for the child!—the necessity of it, the value of it, the training it gives, and so on. Someway, it is a virtue that is peculiarly comfortable and desirable in the eyes of parents; so much so that, unless we are careful, we are likely to overlook the very vital fact that outward compliance with our requests, apparent conformity to our commands, may not be obedience in its highest sense at all.

Your little fluttering canary, so long in captivity that in spite of the bars that imprison him he daily pours out those liquid, golden notes that seem the voice of pure joy and embodied content, is, you would say, in perfect accord with his surroundings. But wait. A day comes when the gilded gate is lifted; the wide, alluring outdoors calls; and the helpless little captive, a mere fluff of yellow down, spreads his unaccustomed wings, leaving the safe shelter and unfailing food supply of his restricted life for the thrilling bliss of freedom.

So with the child. Some natures fret under restraint, others revolt, and still others conform. But all, as soon as they are old enough or strong enough,—as soon as the bars that have confined them against their will, even when they apparently yielded, are lifted,—will choose their own ways of thought and life.

Shall we, then, perforce, adopt the plan of the dear old woman who attended her first “mothers’ meeting” when her own sons and daughters were grown up, and their children came from near and far for longer or shorter sojourns in her ample home? The physical needs of The Child had been discussed pro and con,—his clothes, his food, his weight; his morals had received critical attention; his mind, his moods, and his will. Now indeed we flounder. When obedience is so good for the children, and so pleasant for us, why will they disobey? How shall we “make them mind”?

“I have made a discovery,” announced this grandmother in Israel. “I have raised a large family of my own, and my house has never been without children in it from the day our first little ones came. So I know what I say is true. If you want your children to obey you, never ask them to do anything you know they do not want to do.”

She had no idea of being “funny,” or of amusing that audience. Her “discovery” was as real to her, and was as practical, as much that she had heard discussed that day. We smile at her philosophy; for we know that our children—and we ourselves—must obey, and very often indeed when they—when we—find it directly opposed to the promptings and longings of the natural heart.

But not eye-service nor lip-service, not hand-service nor foot-service, not the reverent manner and the wandering mind. The only obedience, dear mothers, that will help your child in the formation of a sturdy, self-reliant, sincere character, steadfast to duty, firm to resist wrong, valiant to defend the right, is the same kind of obedience that you yourself must possess. And that is the obedience that is the outworking of right principles, and that comes from the heart. For acceptable obedience “does not consist in isolated acts; it is an atmosphere, it is a necessity, it is the breathing of a new existence.”

It takes time and patience, “line upon line, line upon line,” to build into your child’s life the just principles that will lead him to choose the way of obedience,—to obey not only your commands, but the laws of the state and the laws of God, because they are just and right. But obedience of this kind will be a solid foundation beneath his feet in the hour of test, a shield against the fiery darts of the enemy, and a sword to insure victory in the fiercest assaults. Such obedience comes not because of fear, but it springs from love; and it is to those who are willing and obedient that the promise is given, “Ye shall eat the good of the land.”

MRS. I. H. E.