..for the happy heart, life is a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15
Today I am sharing with you some vintage wisdom from a favourite christian writer:
"It is a great misfortune if parents suffer themselves to lose the youthful spring and elasticity out of their lives, and to grow away from the spirit of childhood.
They should never become old in heart.
We cannot stop the years from rolling on, nor can we keep back the gray hairs and the wrinkles and the lines of weariness. These bodies will grow old in spite of us. But there is no reason why our spirits should not be always young!
We ought to keep a child’s heart beating in our breast until God calls us up higher. We ought to grow always toward youth. The oldest people in the home ought to be the youngest.
If we do grow "old" it will be bad for our households. There are some homes where the children can scarcely smile without being frowned upon. They are expected to be as grave as if they were fifty and carrying all the burdens of the world upon their shoulders.
All the joyousness of their nature is repressed.
They are taught to be prim and stiff in their manners. They are continually impressed with the thought that it is a sinful waste of time to play and that it is displeasing to God to have fun and frolic.
Some one says, “A great many homes are like the frame of a harp that stands without strings. In form and outline they suggest music, but no melody rises from the empty spaces; and thus it happens that home is unattractive, dreary and dull.”
There are homes which this picture describes, but they are not the homes that are most like heaven, nor the homes out of which come the truest and noblest lives.

God wants us to fill our homes with happiness.
He made childhood joyous, full of life, bubbling over with laughter, playful, bright and sunny!
It is a crime to repress the mirth and the gladness and to try to make children grave and stately.
Life’s burdens will come soon enough to lie upon their shoulders.
Life will soon enough bring care and anxiety and hardship and a weight of responsibility.
We should let them be young and free from care just as long as possible.
We should put into their childhood days just as much sunshine and gladness, just as much cheerful pleasure, as possible. Besides, the way also to make them strong and noble in character when they grow up to manhood and womanhood is to make their childhood and youth bright and happy.
If you want to produce a vigorous, healthy plant, you will not bring it up in a dark room; you will give it all the sunshine it will take.
Human lives will never grow into their best in gloom.
Pour the sunshine about them in youth; let them be happy; encourage all innocent joy; provide pleasant games for them; romp and play with them; be a child again among them. Then God’s blessing will come upon your home, and your children will grow up sunny hearted, gentle, affectionate, joyous themselves and joy bearers to the world."
written by J.R Miller
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Hello dear friends, welcome to LACE!
This meme is for encouraging one another and is based on Philippians 4:8
Whatever is..Lovely. Admirable. Cheerful. Encouraging. ~ LACE
To join in and share your lovely and encouraging post about life, faith and beauty in the christian home please..
link up only to your LACE post
link it back to here
and kindly leave a comment after linking
- don't link and run!
Please try to visit each other with a friendly word and leave a blessing :-)
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Trish,
ReplyDeleteThat was such a good post! I really agree and love the quote by J.R. Miller!
It is easy to get bogged down in working around the house and things I want to do, and put off spending time in just fun with the kids.
Blessings,
Deanna
this is fantastic advice and I really enjoyed the post. Thank you so much for hosting.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written!
ReplyDeleteIt is not easy to be young when you see your body decaying in front of your eyes...but when we shift the focus outwardly and see the beauty of the young, their vitality and their joy, it is an infectious feeling that has to be shared.
I grew up in a very rumbustious home, and I am glad that I did, because now, my home is pretty much the same. My sons are able to express themselves without the frowning and discontent.
Thank you Trish for sharing :-)
Maria
A big Amen! to your post, Trish! I know from experience what it is like to grow up in a repressed home. God changed all that when He brought my hubby into my life. I haven't stopped laughing! God is good!! Thanks for your visit, my friend, and I wish you a delightful day.
ReplyDeleteBlessings and hugs,
Sandi
God is so amazing! I didn't read through your post until after I had posted my post and then realized that we each were sharing about the same thing. :o) Wonderful post my dear!! :o) <3
ReplyDeleteThis is really good. I do believe we let a lot of our burdens cross over to our children. No matter how hard life is , we can shield them from the heaviness of being adults. Everyone deserves a happy childhood.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, the second post was supposed to go somewhere else and I had another link open
ReplyDeleteDear Trish,
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy reading the writings of J.R. Miller - so encouraging!
I've been a bit quiet on my blog lately, so I thought I'd join you in LACE today.
Blessings to you friend,
Kim
What a true delight your words are for me today! I was thinking of my grandchildren and how I do miss them being so far away. And how I miss my lovely daughter also! I am thankful for growing up in a home where my mother truly enjoyed "being a mother." She did make everyday a day of celebration. I loved our home!
ReplyDeleteTrish,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my place. I can tell that you are an encourager! I look forward to reading and participating in your blog more. :)
No shortage of laughter and play in my home!
ReplyDeleteNice to meet you and your blog Trish, and thanks for the linkup!
Hi Trish, you are so kind to host this weekly meme where we can all get together and meet! My post does fit in the category if you stretch it a bit. It's about a mother's pain of losing her baby son after only 28 hours of life and how she survived. It's a true story written by my blogging friend Sue Elvis. Beautifully written book about a mother's pain, loss and faith in God.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder to have some childish fun with our children.. just a reminder that I have plenty of children for you to practice being childish with and I am wondering if you want to pop over and help me do practice???
ReplyDeleteLove you my dear friend.
xoxox Nell
. . . Just stopping by to say that I read this post the other day and thought it was beautiful. :)
ReplyDeleteOh! how I enjoyed reading this post Trish. I agree with all that was written, I decided a long time ago, I would remain young. I often tell my dh that I have this young spirit in this older body.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked the point of allowing children to be as care free and young as long as possible.
Just such a great post, thank you for sharing.
Sue
Hi Trish,
ReplyDeleteMy childhood was opposite of this, but then my parents surrendered their lives to Christ when I was a teenager, and things began to change over time.
I spent so many years wishing I had the kind of family as R.J. Miller writes about, but I now know that the Lord has used my past to teach me about forgiveness, love and so many other countless things.
Thank you for sharing this, I think it can change some lives.
God bless you friend, many hugs and blessing
~ Michele <><
i love your post! thanks for sharing...God bless you...
ReplyDelete