May 1932
201
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
o lher i INFLUENCE
By JOHN A. HUBBARD Los AngelesfXalif.
X . he story is told of a little girl walking with her mother. She stumbled over something and thereupon cried out, “ Mother, why don’t you look where I’m going?” We are passing on this incident apropos of Mother’s Day, which is so near at hand, reminding us of the influ ence of the mother on her children. We are not minimiz ing, in any degree, the responsibility of the father in this matter of influence on the children of the home, for that responsibility is very definite and great. It is to be re gretted that so many fathers try to shirk this responsi bility or are a positive hindrance to their children, either by their direct influence, or indirectly by making it more difficult for the mother to lead the children aright. But because of the intimate association with her child, especially in the young and formative period, the influ ence of the mother is, in some respects, greater than that of the father. The Scriptures contain many striking examples of the power of parents over their children for evil or for good. A n E v il M o t h e r Concerning Ahaziah, king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom), it is said, “ He did evil in the sight of the Lord.” And the record shows that both his father and mother in fluenced him for evil: “ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way o f his father, and in the way of his
mother. . . . For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all that his father had done” (1 Ki. 2 2 :52, 53). wpv o t l o n g after the reign of Ahaziah over the Northern ' Kingdom, a king by the same name ascended the throne of Judah, in the Southern Kingdom. The biography of this man is very closely linked with his mother; indeed, it may be said to gather largely around her. And what a biography it is! “ Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jeru salem. His mother’s name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly. Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction” (2 Chron. 22:2-4). His mother was his counsellor to do wickedly, and the counsel ended in his destruction! Going back a step farther in the ancestry of this man, we find that the mother of Ahaziah was the daughter of that personification of wick edness—Jezebel—whose name even now is used as a sym bol of ungodliness. There can be no question as to the in fluence exerted by Jezebel over her daughter Athaliah, whose influence in turn resulted in the destruction of her son. What a tremendous responsibility is that of the mother!
A Mother’ s Prayer
As I hold my own baby, So close to my breast, With the tiny soft fingers Like pink rosebuds pressed, Do I think of that Baby O f heavenly birth, Who came bringing hope To the mothers of earth? A s I clasp my own baby, So close, with a prayer That the Saviour will keep us With all-watchful care, Do I think of the mothers Whose mute, nameless fears Bow them low to blind gods With dumb lips and deaf ears?
In my home where my child Is a gift from the Lord, Where the mother is honored, The baby adored, Do I think of far lands, - Where at breaking o f day, The unwanted babies Are carried away? 0 Father, who gavest My baby to me, May the love o f my child Bring me closer to Thee, May the children o f earth Who know not Thy Son Be more precious to me Because o f my own.
— S elected .
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