The Conservation of Energy by Arthur W. Spaulding

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 10, 1912

The Conservation of Energy

By Arthur W. Spaulding

Come, Let Us Live With Our Children—No. 2

The Conservation of Energy

ARTHUR W. SPAULDING

It is useless to resolve without having the power to fulfil. And we are all weak. How often, after we have studied out the proper course, have decided just how to direct the developing mind of our child, how to curb some evil tendency, how to tide over some dangerous desire,—how often, then, do we find our strength of body and brain unequal to the requirement! The Sabbath program that was to absorb the eager restlessness of our boy is abandoned because of tired feet and aching brain; the superb patience that was to be proof against the incessant chatter and noisy activities of the children, is dissipated like snow under an April rain; we plan a confidential talk, and at its due time we feel our forbidding poverty of tact and strength. And thus, not so much because of the lack of sight and will, but because of the lack of vitality, we fail.

It is this same lack of vitality, of abundant life, that parts us in every way from our children. To keep the child's point of view, it is necessary for the man and the woman to keep in touch with the activities and the feelings of childhood; it is necessary often to talk and discuss and plan with the children about the things that interest them, to play with them, to help in making their kites and boats and dolls' clothes, to take walks with them, and teach them in the mysteries of bird lore and woodcraft and balancings of the clouds. It is necessary to take some zest, along with them, into seed sowing and wood chopping and bread baking and gardening, that these may be no tasks of drudgery, but worlds of investigation and learning. In short, it is necessary—I say it emphatically—to be grown-up boys and girls, educated, disciplined, but still youthful in spirit. That so many are not is due, sometimes in part to temperament, more often and most fully to unwarranted exhaustion of nervous energy. Yes, unwarranted; for if it is our duty to live with our children, we have no warrant for preventing that life through dissipation, by whatever means, of the powers that enable us to live it.

And now, fathers and mothers, let us face these two facts: Unless we succeed

in saving our children, our chief mission in life is a failure; and unless we can find and stop the leaks of our nervous energy, our power to fulfil our mission is small. When, therefore, we are able to find some of the causes of nervous dissipation, it becomes our sacred duty, our very first work in preparation for child-training, by persistent effort to remove those causes. Here are some of the causes of dissipation of nervous energy:—

Errors in Physical Living. In diet come the errors of overeating, wrong combinations, insufficient nourishment, wrong times for eating, hasty eating. One or more of these causes operate in almost all the cases of nerve exhaustion, and it may often be proved by experiment, for instance, that a discontinuance of supper, with rigid adherence to other correct principles, brings an improvement in nerve power. This diet question, parents, is no question of mere doctrine; it is a question of the salvation of our children. If you lack will-power, ask it of God.

Sleeping or living in impure air is one of the surest means of preventing nerve recuperation. Outdoor life as much as possible, and bringing outdoors indoors, is the remedy. The sedentary need daily exercise that will bring the sweat. Those who labor mostly with one or a few sets of muscles, need to seek corrective exercises. A bowed back fosters a downcast mind. “Jesus was an earnest, constant worker. Never lived there among men another so weighted with responsibilities. Never another carried too heavy a burden of the world's sorrow and sin. Yet his was a life of health.” To bind earth to heaven, he rose from the toil of daily labor to the glory of nature's cheer. “With the voice of singing he welcomed the morning light. With songs of thanksgiving he cheered his hours of labor, and brought heaven's gladness to the toil-worn and disheartened.” Mothers and fathers, it is not a question merely of feeling well or looking beautiful; it is a question of whether our powers are going to be in good form to save our children.

Worry. Feverish days and sleepless nights are the fruit of worry. It is easy to say, Don't worry; but how can you help it? The remedy is simple, if it is taken up with a single-hearted purpose. It is this: Get your sins forgiven, and go to work for Christ. We worry about debts and needs, about slanders, about reputation, about opposition to our plans, about the mistakes we have made. Just one thing stops it all: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” Now if we haven't made up our minds to do that one thing, then we must now choose whether we will do that one thing, or offer a divided service. But “ye can not serve God and mammon.” To get our sins forgiven, to give up foolishness, to trust God for support and training and strength,—this stops worry; and, worry stopped, nervous power increases. It is not merely a choice, brethren and sisters, of having a bright or a doleful Christian experience to relate in social meeting; it is a question of plugging up a leak of energy, to turn that energy into the channel of learning to know our children.

The ignorance of or the false teachings concerning sexual life which most men and women had as children and youth, require for their correction not merely the teachings of personal experience, but the purifying fires of God's truth. The purity and the noble ideals of life which must be our gift to our children, must have their foundation in our personal purity and guilelessness. Neither the license of the prurient on the one hand nor the unnatural vagaries of the celibate on the other hand, are to be our pattern or guide; but the marital relations must be brought upon that high plane of thought and action which will make them a fit symbol of the relations of Christ and his church. The father and mother who from their own knowledge and experience can conscientiously and gladly teach their children the science of life with Christ, as symbolized in the marriage state, have a hold most powerful, enduring, upon their children's souls.

The one thought of the real Christian can be only, How shall souls be saved? You as a Christian parent see first your children, beyond them your neighbors and acquaintances: your one purpose and aim is their salvation. What high standing you might obtain in town or church or wider public, you care not. What fripperies of dress or smartness of speech you might be famed for, attracts none of your energy. What gratification of appetite or passion you might indulge in, you, by the grace of God, sternly repress. Released from the drain of worry, appetite, and passion, you conserve your energies for the one great purpose of winning and training the souls about you, the souls of your children and your friends. This, and not personal gain, is the purpose of the conservation of energy. And doing this, you will discover that the Sabbath day finds you with power as well as a will to engage with your children in the Master's work; you will find that the evenings are times of relaxation and social intercourse with your children, and that the days have a buoyancy that encourages effort.

Finally, though with all this conservation our energy yet is insufficient for our duties, we shall learn to find a refilling of life through communion with our Heavenly Father. The study of the Word of God imparts real life; sincere prayer opens the doors of our storehouse and swings wide the gates of heaven, that power may flow into us. Of Jesus it is written: “Often his incessant labors and the conflict with the enmity and false teaching of the rabbis, left him so utterly wearied that his mother and brothers, and even his disciples, feared that his life would be sacrificed. But as he returned from the hours of prayer that closed the toilsome day, they marked the look of peace upon his face, the freshness and life and power that seemed to pervade his whole being. From hours spent alone with God he came forth morning by morning to bring the light of heaven to men.”

Not idly, not listlessly, must we take this truth. If there is a work to be done for our children, if they are to be saved for God's work now and God's kingdom hereafter, if you and I, fathers and mothers, have any responsibility at all in this business of the King's, we must lay a sound foundation for our work, and lay it now. And that foundation is, in great part, an experience in the saving of vital energy for this our only work. When will you begin?