Simplicity in Furnishing

Our artificial habits deprive us of many blessings and much enjoyment, and unfit us for living the most useful lives. Elaborate and expensive furnishings are a waste not only of money but of that which is a thousandfold more precious. They bring into the home a heavy burden of care and labor and perplexity.MHH 208.4

What are the conditions in many homes, even where resources are limited and the work of the household rests chiefly on the mother? The best rooms are furnished in a style beyond the means of the occupants and unsuited to their convenience and enjoyment. There are expensive carpets, elaborately carved and daintily upholstered furniture, and delicate drapery. Tables, mantels, and every other available space are crowded with ornaments, and the walls are covered with pictures, until the sight becomes wearying. And what an amount of work is required to keep all these in order and free from dust! This work, and the other artificial habits of the family in its conformity to fashion, demand of the housewife unending toil.MHH 208.5

In many a home the wife and mother has no time to read, to keep herself well informed, no time to be a companion to her husband, no time to keep in touch with the developing minds of her children. There is no time or place for the precious Savior to be a close, dear companion. Little by little she sinks into a mere household drudge, her strength, time, and interest absorbed in the things that perish with the using. Too late she awakes to find herself almost a stranger in her own home. The precious opportunities to influence her dear ones for the higher life were left unimproved, and now have passed away forever.MHH 208.6

Let homemakers resolve to live on a wiser plan. Let it be your first aim to make a pleasant home. Be sure to provide the facilities that will lighten labor and promote health and comfort. Plan for the entertainment of the guests whom Christ has told us to welcome and of whom He says, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” Matthew 25:40.MHH 209.1

Furnish your home with things plain and simple, things that will bear handling, that can easily be kept clean, and that can be replaced without great expense. By exercising taste you can make a very simple home attractive and inviting, if love and contentment are there.MHH 209.2