W ITCH KIND OF A MOTHER? T WO little BOYS were trying on Halloween masks at the grocery store. One suggested that the other be a witch as he held up a witch’s mask. The other boy looked at it and then matter-of-factly said, “ Oh no, it looks just like my mother! I don’t want to be a witch.” By now I was dying to see what “ mother” looked like, but as I peered around the counter, I was puzzled to find she was a pretty, blue-eyed blonde, petite and young. Standing behind her at the check-out counter, however, I discovered the boy was right; she did look like a witch. She yelled and threatened the boys, jerked their hands from the gum rack, shook their teeth loose twice, and looked so much like a witch I fully expected her to climb on her broom and fly away. On the way home, I thought of my own relationship to our children. When I brush Laurie’s hair, is it done in a rough, jerking manner? When I discipline Rick, is it out of love or impatience ? When I ask for something to be done, is it a request or an angry command? The young mother I had been watching was full o f her own tensions, griefs, irrita tions and the boys were bearing the brunt o f it. “ Do I look like a witch to my children?” I thought. Dr. Henry R. Brandt wrote in Six Talks on Family Living: “ It is per fectly normal for a little child who can sometimes get more comfort out o f his little teddy bear than he can get out of his tense, anxious mother. She holds him with her tense mus cles. She is sighing and fidgeting around as she holds her child. Some times it is a great relief to the child when his tense, anxious, unhappy mother lays him down so he can wrap his arms around his soft, warm, stable teddy bear.” What we say to our children is im portant, but how we act and even touch them, is equally important. Am I gentle or tense? Relaxed or anx ious? Certainly as a mother I need to go to the very center o f peace, the heart o f God, in prayer. Peter Mar shall once prayed, “ We are too Christian really to en joy sinning and too fond o f sinning really to enjoy Christianity. Most of us know perfectly well what we ought to do; our trouble is that we do not want to do it. Thy help is our only hope. Make us want to do what is right, and give us the ability to do it. In the name o f Christ our Lord, Amen.”
O v e r ^ Gito O J
AFTER-CHURCH-SNACK
"Dead"!
Combine before church
Did you say? Nay, only Heaven-sped; Just safe in God's Home-port They are not dead! "Lost"! Did you think? How can such lives be lost? Just gather up; His jewels, rare of cost! "Gone"! Nay, Just waiting on God's shore-line The Coming of life-vessels Yours and mine.
1 jar of "Cheese W h iz" Vi cup of mayonnaise 1 small can of chopped olives 3 or 4 strips of bacon that has been fried and broken into tiny pieces Spread on Split hamburger buns or English muffins Broil Open faced until brown and bubbly. Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last o f life, for which the first was made: Our times are in His hand Who saith, “ A whole I planned, Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be a fraid !” —Robert Browning 1812-1889
God longs to make us His instruments of comfort and encouragement, but He cannot until we are able to enter sym pathetically into the deep distress of oth ers. We Christians are often poor listeners. We need to cultivate the art of listening . . . not only to God, but to others. It is often so much easier to use our mouths than our ears. Because we know so little of real mental discipline, we find it extremely difficult to concentrate on the thoughts of others. God will give us discernment as we pray for a listening heart. He can keep us from doling out the same stock answers to everyone who knocks at our door. He can teach us when to advise, when to sym pathize, when to admonish, and when to keep perfectly still! God can use us most effectively as we allow Him to teach us to LISTEN with sensitive ears and a com passionate heart. by Ruth Calkin Young people are invited to send in questions to Mrs. Ruth Calkins. THE KING'S BUSINESS
KANDY KAYE SAYS,
TH O U G H T FOR TO D A Y Do I listen to my friend Who has a need to share. Or am I too self-occupied To genuinely care?
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).
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