The Home

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 4, 1912

THE ideal home is not self-centered. It is a center of service. So far as circumstances will permit, the old-time ideals of hospitality should be maintained. In wise and uplifting ways the home should be shared. It is a good practise to invite young people who are away from home. It relieves loneliness, discouragement, and temptation. Remember, it is—

“Not what we give but what we share. The gift without the giver is bare.”

“The home is the bulwark of civilization.” Within the extreme limits of wealth and poverty a home may be good or bad irrespective of social position or property. Our homes are what we choose to make them. It is a question of what we admit and what we keep out of them. Our best selves and the best that we have to give should go into the home. The home life, to a large degree, determines the character of children. The home tends to make us all better or worse. Thus the home becomes the chief factor in determining the character of the community and the nation. The trend of our times is away from the home into the countless amusements and interests of modern life. But home life at its best should be strongly maintained and cherished. It should not be narrow nor selfish, however; and from it should develop and overflow steadily lives enriched for service and blessing.—Selected.