Be Thou An Example

I recently finished reading a biography of the wife of Jonathan Edwards, Sarah who was mother to their 11 children. In a Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan & Sarah Edwards, I was impressed most particularly with the way that she was described to have raised her children. It has given me a great deal of "food for thought" as to the ordering of my own household. She set an example that was carried on to her progeny that has been manifested in the numerous successful and godly men and women that were born into that family.

A guest to her home wrote of her, 

"She had an excellent way of governing her children; she knew how to make them regard and obey her cheerfully, without loud angry words, much less heavy blows. She seldom punished them; and in speaking to them, used gentle and pleasant words. If any correction was necessary, she did not administer it in a passion; and when she had occasion to reprove and rebuke she would do it in few words, without warmth and noise.... In her directions in matters of importance, she would address herself to the reason of her children, that they might not only know her....will, but at the same time be convinded of the reasonableness of it. She had need to speak but once; she was cheerfully obeyed; murmuring and answering again were not known among them. 

In their manners they were uncommonly respectful to their parents. When their parents came into the room they all rose instinctively from their seats and never resumed them until their parents were seated; and when either parent was speaking.... they were all immediately silent and attentive. The kind and gentle treatment they received from their mother, while she strictly and punctiliously maintained her parental authority, seemed naturally to....promote a filial respect and affection, and to lead them to a mild tender treatment of each other. Quarrelling and contention, which too frequently take place among children, were in her family unknown. She carefully observed the first appearance of resentment and ill will in her young children, towards any person whatever, an did not connive at it....but was careful to show her displeasure and suppress it to the utmost; yet not by angry, wrathful words, which often provoke children to wrath... Her system of discipline was begun at a very early age and it was her rule to resist the first, as well as every subsequent exhibition of temper or disobedience in the child....wisely reflecting that until a child will obey his parents he can never be brought to obey God."

May her example of godly motherhood give us something to strive towards in the coming year and for years to come. 

Have a blessed Sabbath Day.