The Family

by J.r Miller:

There is no place in the world where the amenities of courtesy should be so carefully maintained as in the home. There are no hearts that hunger so for the expressions of affection as the hearts of which we are most sure. There is no place where rudeness or incivility is so unpardonable as inside our own doors and towards our best beloved. Love gives no license for rudeness or incivility to  the one who is loved.
Words seem little things, so fleeting and evanescent that apparently it cannot matter much of what sort they are. They are so easily spoken that we forget what power they have to give pleasure or pain. They seem so swiftly gone that we forget they do not go away at all, but linger either like barbed arrows in the heart where they stuck, or like fragrant flowers distilling perfume.
Few things are more important in a home than its conversation, and yet there are few things to which less thought is given. The power of communication, which lies in the tongue, is simply incalculable. It can impart knowledge, utter words that shine like lamps in darkened hearts; speak kindly sentences that will comfort sorrow or cheer despondency, breathe out thoughts that will arouse and quicken heedless souls; even whisper the secret of life-giving energy to souls that are dead.

Every true home ought to be a help to a great many struggling lives.
No richer blessing can come upon a home than the benediction of those who have been helped, who have been fed at it’s doors, or sheltered beneath it’s roof, or inspired by its cheer and kindly interest.
The hands and hearts which give out blessings to others in the Master’s name and for His sake, that minister comfort, joy, help, healing and uplifting, that make others happier, stronger, safer, better shall remain forever pure and white in the heaven of glory, when earthly honors have faded.