A current book giving counsel to wives contains a chapter with the appealing title, "Let's Raise Our Standard of Loving." How obvious it is that the cost of living and its associated problems leave the standard of loving in the family circle at a low ebb.
One of the vital factors in keeping the standard of family affection on a high level is the effective use of time. While budgeting our finances we should not overlook the value of budgeting our time for the cultivation of gracious living. Efficient housekeeping is important, but household cares can wreck both marital and family happiness when they become paramount to every other consideration. When a household is run so that life becomes a fretful race to keep up with drudging duties, family communion and mutual appreciation of one another in the home find little encouragement.
When worship, meditation, music, conversation, reading, and other cultural and spiritual activities are nicely balanced, there will be a sense of sanctity and blessing in home life more alluring than most of the attractions that now demand our interest outside the family circle.
In a home where children are, a mother's social activities in the community must not dominate her time so that none is available for an unhurried scheduling of her daily routines to include a definite interest in what TV programs the children are watching or what books they are reading. In our kaleidoscopic modern era we look with wonder on the picture of John Ruskin's mother quietly listening each morning to her small son read aloud the Bible portion she has assigned him for the day, not skipping any of the "begats" of the Old Testament or the genealogies of the New. Yet out of that kind of daily discipline followed for years Ruskin developed a love for the Bible that molded his philosophy and enriched his writing style.
One of the moral hazards in the shortening of the work week from six to five days, with a strong movement to promote still further abridgment of working time, is that people are not educated for leisure. Idle, unassigned time is a snare to millions of people. The frustration and boredom that lead to serious neuroses are largely attributable to a lack of constructive use of this spare time available through modern labor conditions. The habit of reading has not been inculcated in youth, for instance, and to carry on any kind of reading program with a definite objective in view is distasteful. That such a program should be instituted in the early training of a child needs no argument. I shall never forget the reading pleasure I received from a trip around the world through books on world travel.
In the Seventh-day Adventist home a special reverence should be developed for the Bible and Spirit of prophecy. Brief oral readings at the worship hour are always in good taste. The sound of mother's and father's voices reading the Scriptures will linger in the heart of children as a blessed memory. Attention to what is being read may be stimulated by asking someone in the circle next day to sum up the instruction that was read the day before. Yet the atmosphere of the reading circle should be one of relaxation and pleasure, not a time of irritating exactitude and inquiry.
Many of us older folks remember the days of the big family Bible that graced the table in the living room. How as children we used to turn its pages with awe and wonder and pore over the steel-cut engravings or woodcuts they used for illustrating events in sacred history. We now have color photography to enliven these ancient scenes, and in no set of books is the Bible set forth in narrative and illustrated form more effectively than in the ten volumes of The Bible Story, written by Arthur S. Maxwell, the "Uncle Arthur" of the well-known Bedtime Stories. The entire subject matter of the Bible that anywhere yields a story has been employed in these more than four hundred stories. World-famous artists have drawn the pictures. For very young children a set of three books called Tiny Tot Library, by Charles L. Paddock, features titles such as Bible A B C's, Bible Firsts, and Boys and Girls of the Bible. Also illustrated in color, these lively volumes use the simplest of language to hold the attention of the child while acquainting him with fundamental truths and Bible characters.
The Missionary Volunteer Book Club features books each year for the junior, teen-ager, and young adult. These sets are balanced as far as subject matter is concerned. They usually include a story of Adventist missions in some part of the world field, a biography of some inspirational character, and a book of inspirational philosophy. For instance the 1957 list features Burning Bushes, by Georgia Cottrell, as a book of spiritual counsel; Michibiki, by Raymond Moore, a story of God's providence in our Japanese Training College; Pioneer Stories Retold, a compilation of the best biographical narratives of Adventist leaders of the past; Smoke in the Sky, by Ruth Wheeler, an informational book in sprightly narrative about modern forest fires and the romance of fighting them; and a fine, sympathetic biography of the wife of Martin Luther, entitled The Morning Star of Wittenberg, thrown in for good measure. Such volumes are very stimulating.
Since all such books are carefully chosen by a responsible committee, their subject matter and general appeal are usually of real value. These lists from the primary to the senior level should be carefully studied every year. These volumes belong in every Adventist 'home library, and the promotion of the reading of them deserves study.
But what about cultural reading for the minister's wife herself? Some systematic and avid readers read as much as one new book a week, and considering what is available and the need of the shepherdess of the flock to lead in cultural matters as far as possible, a few suggestions from a wide variety to select from will not be out of place here. Mrs. Dale Carnegie has written a volume of practical instruction entitled How to Help Your Husband to Get Ahead, available in most bookstores. Though not slanted to church women particularly, what she says about a wife sharing her husband's interests, helping him save his time, encouraging him to keep learning, et cetera, is pertinent to the role the wife plays.
Unique Books
Every pastor's wife should be well informed on the history of our own church. A unique volume that has come off our presses in recent days is The Story of Our Church, prepared by the General Conference Educational Department. It is written in such a way as to interest children of school age, too. In fact, it was written for school use, and presents material old and new in an attractive way. An excellent new book on Ellen G. White, written for our schools by T. H. Jemison, is A Prophet Among You.
The development of our health message and of our sanitariums has seen growing along with it a health food industry. Inasmuch as the cereal and health food activities of our denomination began in Battle Creek, probably the most fascinating book dealing with the most famous of all cereal industrialists is Horace B. Powell's biography of W. K. Kellogg. Its title is The Original Has This Signature. The early relationship of Dr. J. H. Kellogg and his brother W. K. Kellogg is recorded here in a graphic way, and the story hews closely to the facts of the gradual rise of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and later of the Kellogg Food Company. The book is published by Prentice-Hall, and should be very interesting reading to all Adventists.
For a little gift book that will stimulate love for reading among those who need a little prodding nothing is more enlightening than J. D. Snider's Booklove, available in the Golden Treasury Series of the Review and Herald. It's new. Lovers of poetry should have in their library A. W. Spalding's Go Forth, Pilgrim, which presents in stately verse some of the loftiest concepts of worship, of Advent history, and of the onward advance of the message. For lines of melody that afford illustration for many a minister's wife's worship talks, no poetry is more sprightly than Adlai Esteb's three volumes, Firewood, Driftwood, and Sandalwood.
There are five conceivable aims in reading: (1) for information, (2) for inspiration, (3) for understanding and definition, (4) for thought stimulation, and (5) for enjoyment of leisure time. Sometimes the book in the hand ministers to all these aims, but intelligent reading for one's self or for sympathetic counseling of the family suggests careful selection from competent reviews by those qualified to report objectively on a book's values. Such a course would prevent much haphazard browsing that wastes time, and provide a more direct attack on the whole reading program in the home.
