The Privilege of Parents in Child Training

Happy are the parents whose lives are a true reflection of the divine, so that the promises and commands of God awaken in their children gratitude and reverence. Happy are the parents whose tenderness, justice, and longsuffering reflect to the children the love and justice and longsuffering of God, parents who, by teaching their children to love and trust and obey them, are teaching them to love and trust and obey their Father in heaven. Parents who impart to their children such a gift have endowed them with a treasure more precious than the wealth of all the ages—a treasure as enduring as eternity.MHH 213.1

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.”MHH 213.2

The mother’s work often seems to her an unimportant service. Her work is rarely appreciated. Others know little of her many cares and burdens. Her days are occupied with a round of duties, all calling for patient effort, for self-control, for tact, wisdom, and self-sacrificing love, yet she cannot boast of what she has done as any great achievement. She has only kept things in the home running smoothly. Often weary and perplexed, she has tried to speak kindly to the children, to keep them busy and happy, and to guide their feet in the right path. She feels that she has accomplished nothing. But it is not so. Heavenly angels watch the care-worn mother, noting the burdens she carries day by day. Her name may not have been heard in the world, but it is written in the Lamb’s book of life.MHH 213.3