In researching the topic today, I ran across these words regarding the difference between a joyous family and an agitated one...
"Well, we can find joy in ....the life of the home,
which has been spoken of here so beautifully throughout this conference,
beginning with that inspirational message from our President.
"I
am mindful of the struggle we have to go through to get a home, and then the
pride we feel as we come into it, and then the joy of children as they come to
bless it. I still think that the birth of a baby surpasses the greatest miracle
ever wrought. The joy in the coming of the children, their development, their
questions, their affection, their frank disclosures, the privilege we have of
living life over again, and then when we get to the stage of grandchildren,
where we have all the joys and not quite the full responsibilities, when, after
they have worn us or our nerves a little threadbare, we can suggest, that for
the children's sake, maybe they ought to be in bed. These are great blessings
and great sources of joy.
"Let
me give you a homely illustration of the difference between a joyous family and
an agitated one. Some people make their lives center in "don'ts" and
"mustn'ts" and "can'ts." I often think of the mother who
used to say, "Go and see what Billy is doing and tell him to quit."
That kind of parent gets into the car and proceeds to tell her children what
they cannot do and orders them to be quiet. The wise parent, who has the joy in
the association of the children, says, "Let's see how many white horses we
can see in the next hundred miles." Perhaps we shall have to change the
white horses to red tractors. It is an interest to trace the alphabet on the
billboards along the way—good fun to try to work out a complete alphabet. It is
fun to find the best signboard along the way or, if you want to, and lean a
little to the intellectual side, you can get one of the children's best current
books—not the cheap ones that Brother Dilworth [Young] talked about this
morning—but one of those beautifully illustrated books now available, and you
can sit in the back seat (if you have the kind of driver) and fill in the time
that otherwise might drag. That is joy in the making.
"In
the home, too, there is the joy of a few good friends—not too many—because you
cannot cultivate them—but a few of the friends who will stand by you in all
that comes in life. We have such friends—God be praised for them.
"In
the language of Shakespeare, "Those friends thou hast, and their adoption
tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel."
Adam
S. Bennion, Conference Report, April 1955, pp. 108-112
ELDER LENHARD
ELDER LENHARD
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