Cheerfulness in the Home
By Mrs. J. L. Jones
CHEERFULNESS is the disposition to be hopeful; it looks for the bright side when the outlook is dark. Gloom says, “Every rose has its thorn.” Cheerfulness says, “Every thorn has its rose.” “There is a marvelous, life-giving power in cheerfulness. ‘A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.’ The relation that exists between the mind and the body is very intimate. When one is affected, the other sympathizes. The condition of the mind affects the health of the physical system. If the mind is free and happy, from a consciousness of right-doing and a sense of satisfaction in causing happiness to others, it creates a cheerfulness that will react on the whole system, causing a freer circulation of the blood and a toning up of the entire body.” A San Francisco paper tells of a woman, the victim of crushing sorrow, and resulting despondency, indigestion, insomnia, and kindred ills, who determined to throw off the gloom that was making life so heavy a burden, and established a rule that she would laugh at least three times a day, whether occasion was presented or not. She trained herself to laugh heartily on the least provocation, and would retire to her room and make merry by herself. She was soon in excellent health and buoyant spirits, and her home became a sunny, cheerful abode. In speaking of the matter to a friend, she said: “When I formed this apparently strange habit, I was weighed down with sorrow, and my rule simply lifted me out of it. I had suffered the most acute indigestion; for years I have not known what it is. Headaches were a daily dread; for over six years I have not had a single pain in the head. My home seems different to me, and I feel a thousand times more interest in its work. My husband is a changed man, and our children are always happy; altogether, my rule has proved an inspiration which has worked wonders.” Worry kills more people than work, and an uneasy, discontented frame of mind is as rust that eats away the most delicate part of the machinery, making useless the whole. The strongest, brightest intellects may be ruined in a short time by grief and anxiety. A lack of faith is shown by nursing one’s ills. Is not the admonition given, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you”? Truly “he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” Over and again we are told by the Lord’s servant to cultivate cheerfulness. “The mother should cultivate a cheerful, contented, happy disposition. Every effort in this direction will be abundantly repaid in both the physical well-being and the moral character of her children. A cheerful spirit will promote the happiness of her family, and in a very great degree improve her own health. “Let the husband aid his wife by his sympathy and unfailing affection. If he wishes to keep her fresh and gladsome, so that she will be as sunshine in the home, let him help her bear her burdens. His kindness and loving courtesy will be to her a precious encouragement, and the happiness he imparts will bring joy and peace to his own heart. “The husband and father who is morose, selfish, and overbearing, is not only unhappy himself, but he casts gloom upon all the inmates of his home. He will reap the result in seeing his wife7dispirited and sickly, and his children marred with his own unlovely temper. “If the mother is deprived of the care and comforts she should have, if she is allowed to exhaust her strength through overwork or through anxiety and gloom, her children will be robbed of the vital force and of the mental elasticity and cheerful buoyancy they should inherit. Far better will it be to make the mother’s life bright and cheerful, to shield her from want, wearing labor, and depressing care, and let the children inherit good constitutions, so that they may battle their way through life with their own energetic strength.”—Ministry of Healing. “All may possess a cheerful countenance, a gentle voice, a courteous manner; and these are elements of power. Children are attracted by a sunny, cheerful demeanor. Show them kindness and courtesy, and they will manifest the same spirit toward you and toward one another.”—Christian Education, page 240. “Let the evenings be spent as happily as possible. Let home be a place where happiness, cheerfulness, and courtesy exist. If parents are continually borrowing trouble, are irritable and fault-finding, the children partake of the same spirit of dissatisfaction and contention, and home is the most miserable place in the world. They find more pleasure among strangers, in reckless company, or on the street, than at home. All this might be avoided. Make your rooms as attractive as possible. Let the children find home the most attractive place on earth.” “The inner side of every cloud
Is bright and shining;
I therefore turn my clouds about,
And always wear them inside out,
To show the lining.”