A Mother Touch--
Discipline
The same Heavenly Father who gave to woman hands to labor and a heart to love, gave her talents to be improved that she might become a home missionary. The extent to which the mind can be cultivated is little understood, but the greatest and most essential education is that which results in the formation of a true character. Children should be educated so that they will answer the purpose of God. The education essential for the performance of life's practical duties is the noblest education your children could have. In this education the judgment must be matured before the taste, principle must be cultivated before fancy and inclination. After true principles are established, and the character is given balance, the taste may be indulged, and the fancy may be disciplined. The mind that is filled with wisdom, and established in principle, will be symmetrical, and will have the inward adorning that is of great price in the sight of God. The spirit, too, must have its proper discipline; and nothing so enlarges the soul, ennobles the mind, and enlightens the intellect, as the religion of Christ. Religion will give to him who is in pursuit of knowledge a holy purpose and a definite aim. He who is enlightened by the spirit of God will feel that he is a steward of the grace of God, endowed with gifts for whose improvement he is responsible.
Mothers, keep before your daughters the value of a true education, the worthlessness of that education that is simply acquired for display. Constantly seek to elevate the mind of your daughters, for the influence of woman in the missionary work, in the field of reform, is of vast importance. She can be a power for Christ in the world. When Christ is enthroned in the heart, his grace will appear in the life. The deportment, the good works, the tender spirit, will all proclaim their possessor a child of God. What might not women do if they would open their minds and hearts to receive the light of heaven from the Source of all truth? and then they would live up to their God-given responsibility and privilege.
ST March 23, 1891
