Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Proverbs 16:24.

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….

Great is the honor and the responsibility placed upon fathers and mothers, in that they are to stand in the place of God to their children. Their character, their daily life, their methods of training, will interpret His words to the little ones. Their influence will win or repel the child’s confidence in the Lord’s assurances.

Happy are the parents whose lives are a true reflection of the divine, so that the promises and commands of God awaken in the child gratitude and reverence; the parents whose tenderness and justice and long-suffering interpret to the child the love and justice and long-suffering of God; and who, by teaching the child to love and trust and obey them, are teaching him to love and trust and obey his Father in heaven. Parents who impart to a child such a gift have endowed him with a treasure more precious than the wealth of all the ages—a treasure as enduring as eternity.

In the children committed to her care, every mother has a sacred charge from God. “Take this son, this daughter,” He says; “train it for Me; give it a character ‘polished after the similitude of a palace,’ that it may shine in the courts of the Lord forever.” …

There is a God above, and the light and glory from His throne rests upon the faithful mother as she tries to educate her children to resist the influence of evil. No other work can equal hers in importance….

The mother who appreciates this will regard her opportunities as priceless. Earnestly will she seek, in her own character and by her methods of training, to present before her children the highest ideal…. Diligently she will study His Word. She will keep her eyes fixed upon Christ, that her own daily experience, in the lowly round of care and duty, may be a true reflection of the one true Life.—The Ministry of Healing, 374-378.

From Reflecting Christ

Let love be without dissimulation…. Be kindly affectioned one to another …; in honour preferring one another. Romans 12:9, 10.

The principle inculcated by the injunction, “Be kindly affectioned one to another,” lies at the very foundation of domestic happiness. Christian courtesy should reign in every household…. The wife and mother may bind the hearts of her husband and children to her own by the strong cords of love, if in her intercourse with them she will manifest unvarying love in gentle words and courteous deportment.

Marked diversities of disposition and character frequently exist in the same family; for it is in the order of God that persons of varied temperaments should associate together. When this is the case, each member of the household should sacredly regard the feelings and respect the rights of the others. By this means mutual consideration and forbearance will be cultivated, prejudices will be softened, and rough points of character smoothed. Harmony may be secured, and the blending of the varied temperaments may be a benefit to each….

[The true wife and mother] will perform her duties with dignity and cheerfulness, not considering it degrading to do with her own hands whatever it is necessary to do in a well-ordered household.

In order to be a good wife, it is not necessary that woman’s nature should be utterly merged in that of her husband. Every individual has a life distinct from all others, an experience differing essentially from theirs. It is not the design of our Creator that our individuality should be lost in another’s; He would have us possess our own characters, softened and sanctified by His sweet grace. He would hear our words fresh from our own hearts. He would have our yearning desires and earnest cries ascend to Him marked by our own individuality. All do not have the same exercises of mind, and God calls for no secondhand experience. Our compassionate Redeemer reaches His helping hand to us just where we are.

If woman looks to God for strength and comfort, and in His fear seeks to perform her daily duties, she will win the respect and confidence of her husband, and see her children coming to maturity honorable men and women, having moral stamina to do right….

When the mother has gained the confidence of her children, and taught them to love and obey her, she has given them the first lesson in the Christian life. They must love and trust and obey their Saviour, as they love and trust and obey their parents. The love which in faithful care and right training the parents manifest for the child faintly mirrors the love of Jesus for His faithful people.—The Signs of the Times, September 9, 1886.

From Reflecting Christ

She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. Proverbs 31:26.

Whenever the mother can speak a word of commendation for the good conduct of her children, she should do so. She should encourage them by words of approval and looks of love. These will be as sunshine to the heart of a child and will lead to the cultivation of self-respect and pride of character….

Children have sensitive, loving natures. They are easily pleased and easily made unhappy. By gentle discipline in loving words and acts, mothers may bind their children to their hearts. To manifest severity and to be exacting with children are great mistakes. Uniform firmness and unimpassioned control are necessary to the discipline of every family. Say what you mean calmly, move with consideration, and carry out what you say without deviation.

It will pay to manifest affection in your association with your children. Do not repel them by lack of sympathy in their childish sports, joys, and griefs.—Testimonies for the Church 3:532.

Infant children are a mirror for the mother, in which she may see reflected her own habits and deportment, and may trace even the tones of her own voice. How careful then should be her language and behavior in the presence of these little learners who take her for an example. If she wishes them to be gentle in manners and tractable, she must cultivate those traits in herself.

When children love and repose confidence in their mother, and have become obedient to her, they have been taught the first lessons in becoming Christians….

In view of the individual responsibility of mothers, every woman should develop a well-balanced mind and pure character, reflecting only the true, the good, and the beautiful. The wife and mother may bind her husband and children to her heart by an unremitting love, shown in gentle words and courteous deportment, which, as a rule, will be copied by her children.

Politeness is cheap, but it has power to soften natures which would grow hard and rough without it. Christian politeness should reign in every household. The cultivation of a uniform courtesy, and a willingness to do by others as we would like them to do by us, would annihilate half the ills of life. The principle inculcated in the injunction, “Be kindly affectioned one to another,” is the cornerstone of the Christian character…. Christian courtesy is the golden clasp which unites the members of the family in bonds of love, becoming closer and stronger every day.—The Health Reformer, August, 1877.

From Reflecting Christ

The ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them. Hosea 14:9.

In the life of a Christian, the things of this world, the idols of pride, extravagance, and self-indulgence, are to have no place. God did not form the eye to be used for selfish purposes. He gave us the power of vision in order that we might behold and admire the Saviour in His works, which He has created for our pleasure.

As children prepare to attend one of our schools, wise parents will help them to understand that in school life they are to strive to form a character that will fit them to associate with the unfallen beings of the universe. And this they can do only through the overcoming power that Christ will give them. Without His grace, no one can form a Christlike character.

Parents, teach your children to become workers with you in the church. Educate them in such a way that they will delight to be workers together with God. Impress upon their minds the thought that as they grow older, their opportunities for service will enlarge, and their power and ability will increase proportionately. Let them understand that those who give themselves to God will become channels of blessing to others who know Him not. Teach them how to have power to prevail with God. If this were done faithfully by every parent, we should see consecrated workers everywhere.—Manuscript 67, 1903. Church members, young and old, should be educated to go forth to proclaim this last message to the world. If they go in humility, angels of God will go with them, teaching them how to lift up the voice in prayer, how to raise the voice in song, and how to proclaim the gospel message for this time.—Messages to Young People, 217.

The idea of holding Bible readings is a heaven-born idea, and opens the way to put hundreds of young men and women into the field to do an important work, which otherwise could not have been done.

The Bible is unchained. It can be carried to every man’s door, and its truths may be presented to every man’s conscience. There are many who, like the noble Bereans, will search the Scriptures daily for themselves, when the truth is presented, to see whether or not these things are so…. Jesus, the world’s Redeemer, bids men not only to read, but to “search the scriptures.” This is a great and important work, and it is committed to us, and in doing this we shall be greatly benefited; for obedience to Christ’s command will not go unrewarded. He will crown with especial tokens of His favor this act of loyalty in following the light revealed in His Word.—Messages to Young People, 220.

From Reflecting Christ

It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. Psalm 18:32.

Educate men and women to bring up their children free from false, fashionable practices, to teach them to be useful. The daughters should be educated under the mothers to do useful labor, not merely indoor labor but out-of-door labor as well. Mothers could also train the sons, to a certain age, to do useful things indoors and out-of-doors.

There are plenty of necessary, useful things to do in our world that would make the pleasure-amusement exercise almost wholly unnecessary. Brain, bone, and muscle will acquire solidity and strength in using them to a purpose, doing good hard thinking, and in devising plans which shall train them [the youth] to develop powers of intellect and strength of the physical organs, which will be putting into practical use their God-given talents with which they may glorify God.

This was plainly laid out before our health institution and our college as the forcible reason why they should be established among us; but as it was in the days of Noah and Lot, so it is in our time. Men have sought out many inventions and have widely departed from God’s purposes and His ways.

I do not condemn the simple exercise of playing ball; but this, even in its simplicity, may be overdone. I shrink always from the almost sure result which follows in the wake of these amusements. It leads to an outlay of means that should be expended in bringing the light of truth to souls that are perishing out of Christ. The amusements and expenditures of means for self-pleasing, which lead on step by step to self-glorifying, and the educating in these games for pleasure, produce a love and passion for such things that is not favorable to the perfection of Christian character….

Suffering humanity needs help everywhere. The students may win their way to hearts by speaking words in season, by doing favors for those who need even physical labor. This will … bring a consciousness of the approval of God. It will be putting the talents, entrusted to you for wise improvement, to the exchangers….

There are healthful methods of exercise that may be planned which will be beneficial to both soul and body…. It is our duty ever to seek to do good in the use of the muscles and brain God has given to youth, that they may be useful to others, making their labors lighter, … turning the minds of the students from fun and frolic which often carries them beyond the dignity of manhood and womanhood…. The Lord would have the mind elevated, seeking higher, nobler channels of usefulness.—Selected Messages 2:321-324.

From Reflecting Christ