"The home is a nursery for divine service in the ecclesia. 'Let them learn first to show piety at home' is the instruction of the great apostle (I Timothy 5:4). So the exercise of true discipleship in the home will seek for good manners, loving patience, admonition without provocation and strength without acrimony. Home is a place of safety and security, of joy and fellowship."

"When we all think of the family as a team and focus on building each other up and discipling and teaching each other the things we have learned, we aren't as tempted to squabble or fight for 'our rights.'"

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Please visit the Modesty Survey and view the Survey Results to learn more about how ladies can aid gentlemen with keeping their minds and hearts pure by wearing modest clothing and acting modestly. Click on the sentences for the poll results and text responses. We all need to strive to become more modest in mind, heart, and dress!

"Often we don't like the fact that we are copied in so many areas, but try to use it positively, and encourage them to be a godly example to their younger siblings. They will pick up on your attitudes towards your parents very quickly, so be careful to speak positively about your parents to them. Share with them your own struggles and victories, so they can pray for you and you for them. Be honest with them and they will be with you."

"Let it be your object, then, every day of your life, to be useful to yourself and others. In the morning, ask yourself, 'What useful things can I do to-day? What can i do that will be a lasting benefit to myself? How can I make myself useful in the family? What can I do for my father or mother? What for my brothers or sisters? And what disinterested act can I perform for the benefit of those who have no claim upon me?' Thus you will cultivate useful habits and benevolent feelings."

"... if you truly honor your parents from the heart, you will not wait for their commands. You will be always ready to obey the slightest intimation of their wishes."

"Make the decision that you will take the humble position in your family. This is difficult to do, but God will reward you. Starting today, look for opportunities to humble yourself with your brothers and sisters. Here are some possible ways: Be willing to listen to them instead of talking about yourself. Ask for their help and advice. Consider your siblings more important than yourself. Be willing to do things their way. Don't make all the decisions. Let others be the first to tell the latest news. Say, 'I was wrong,' and explain why. Ask forgiveness. Share your struggles. Be quick to give in when there is a problem. Never put them down by joking about them. Express gratefulness and thankfulness for the ways they benefit your life. Be willing to do the things no one else wants to do. Look for ways to serve them. Submit to them. Try to fit into their schedule, rather than forcing them to fit into yours. Let them have the best (places to sit, things to eat, things to have, etc). Le them win the argument. Don't defend yourself when they criticize you."

"The quality of our relationship with our brothers and sisters depends significantly upon our relationship with the Lord. It is only by seeking His best in our life first that we will then be able to have His best in our family. Because we are focusing on the bigger picture, we need to make each decision in light of eternity. This requires God's perspective."

"The more you work together as a family, the more you will see how God has designed your family the way it is. Each different personality, skill, and interest put together makes a complete package. As your family grows closer, you'll be excited to observe and share how God has been working."

"Our Heavenly Father is personally concerned about His children. He is working in even the little details of our life to mold us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:28-29) Our Father is more concerned about our inward character than our outward achievement. He has a specialized training program for each of us. This training program begins at home. God's classes come in many unexpected ways, at unexpected times, in unexpected locations, and often through unexpected people--like brothers and sisters. In fact, brothers and sisters seem to be some of the most common 'professors' in God's University. He is not only creative with His choice of teachers but also with His assignments and projects. Because we do not know the future, we often do not understand what God is doing. It takes faith to believe that His ways are perfect and that the family we are in is part of God's specialized program for us. If we cooperate with His training program we will be ready and prepared for the exciting future He has in store for us."

"On some days in our family it seems like everything is just one big, sticky mess! But is it really a disaster? Maybe we need a new perspective! Is it a disaster, or is God training you in a creative way? Is it just another family problem, or is it a special assignment from God? Is it a tragedy, or is it a new opportunity to learn? Sometimes God's assignments seem huge, but the rewards are even bigger."

"Accept God's design for your family. God is the One who has given you the family that you have. His ways are perfect and He has a purpose for what He does. If you are upset about a certain aspect of your family (such as who your brothers and sisters are, how many you have, or your birth order), you are actually upset at God."

"Always bear in mind that the behavior of just one person in a family can have a huge impact and influence on the whole mood of the family. When we're selfish and argumentative, the whole family is set back. It stops rising higher in Godliness, and has to fight just to preserve its survival. Our life is too short to spend in a way, and this is why it is so important that we build each other up."

"Is the way you treat the members of your family pleasing to God and edifying to the people around you? Family harmony is an important testimony, because people notice families, whether they are loving and harmonious, or hateful and quarrelsome."

"A family is more than a sum of its parts. A 'fully functioning' family thinks like a team. Each member has different abilities, but all share a vision and work toward the same goal. ... The weak and dysfunctional families are the families without a united goal and purpose. Though the members may be diligent in pursuing their own separate ministries, there will always be a limit to how much fruit these can bear, because families are most productive when the members are united in vision and work together to execute a common mission."

*LORD willing, February's quotes will be about the children of the family and their duties to parents and siblings.

"The home-life should also be made bright and full of sunshine. The courtesy of the true home is not stiff and formal but sincere, simple and natural. Children need an atmosphere of gladness. Law should not make its restraints hang like chains upon them. Sternness and coldness should have no place in home-life or in family government. No child can ever grow up onto its richest and best development in a home which is gloomy and unhappy. No more do plants need sunshine and air than children need joy and gladness. Unhappiness stunts them, so that their sweetest graces never come out."

"Where selfishness prevails there can be no real happiness. Indeed there is no deep, true and holy love where selfishness rules. As love grows, selfishness dies out in the heart. Love is always ready to deny itself, to give, to sacrifice, just in the measure of its sincerity and intensity. Perfect love is perfect self-forgetfulness. Hence, where there is love in a home, unselfishness is the law. Each forgets self and lives for the others. But when there is selfishness it mars the joy. One selfish soul will destroy the sweetness of the life of any home. It is like an ugly thorn bush in the midst of a garden of flowers."

"Women sigh for fame. They would be sculptors, and chisel out of the cold stone forms of beauty to fill the world with admiration of their skill. Or they would be poets, to write songs to thrill a nation and to be sung around the world. But is any work in marble so great as hers who has [a] life laid in her hands to shape for its destiny? Is the writing of any poem in musical lines so noble a work as the training of the powers of a human soul into harmony? Yet there are women who regard the duties and cares of motherhood as too obscure and commonplace tasks for their hands. So when a baby comes a nurse is hired, who for a weekly compensation agrees to take charge of the little one, that the mother may be free from such drudgery to devote herself to the nobler and worthier things that she finds to do."

"The submissive man... must submit directly to God on a daily basis, living a 'crucified life' in which he says, 'not my will, but yours be done.' He must also submit to those in his life who have been given authority over him. But there is more. The submissive man must put aside his own will in order to do what is best for those under him, for his family. ...What we mean is that while he sets the pace and directs the affairs of the his household, the godly father will do so in a way that places the family's welfare above his own comfort and convenience. He must often sacrifice for their benefit, saying no to his own desires. This is part of the dying to self...."

"There are several essentials to a good home. Wealth is not one of those essentials, for in many an abode of honest poverty contentment dwells. ... The riches of those humble dwellings were industrious hands and praying hearts. God's Word was the light of the homestead."

"Shall we call our home a Christian home, and yet never worship Christ within our doors? Shall we call ourselves God's children, and yet never offer any praise to our Father? Should there not be some difference between a Christian and a heathen home? Should not God's children live differently from the children of this world? What mark is there that distinguishes our home from the home of our godless neighbor if there be no family worship?"

*If God wills, January's posts will be directed towards home-making, families, and parents.