Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 38, 11 January 1946, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

(Supplied by tlie Whakatnne Ministers’ Association).

FEEDING THE FAMILY

This is tlie title of a booklet written by Mrs Alan Wbitelaw one ol' tlie 19-14 studies prepared by the Women’s Commit lee of the Christian Order Movement. The whole series is worth having (obtainable at the Sunday School Union Auckland). l-Torn this- one we take a few extracts and wish we had space for the entire paper:— I do not think that anyone would deny that meals are of the utmost importance although perhaps few of us would be so charmingly frank as the small boy who remarked o his mother that he bad two great interests in life, and one of them was “Food!”

1 do not think I myself realised the psychologieal effect on mealtimes on the mind, until I once went for a week on a milk diet and found that ray day ceased to he divided into interludes by breakfast lunch and. lea. There was nothing to work towards, nothing to look forward to. When the other members of t.{ic family said! “U’s nearly breakfast time,” or “I must hurry up, only half an hour to dinner,” no hopeful horizons appeared on the rim of my day. livery threequarters of an hour or so 1 simply lifted down a glass from -a shelf, and sipped away at the contents. Oh I the appalling monotony of that milky way ! But it tauglu me a lesson. It taught me the paramount place ol importance meal-times occupy in the general scheme of daily life. Empires may rise and fall, wars start and stop, joy’s thrill or sorrows sadden, but meal-times at regular intervals go on for «ver, and; are) or ought to be a perennial source of delight. . . - There is always the temptation to a busy wife and mother to sigh over the amount of time and energy'’ involved in the preparation and serving of meals. What absorbs so msnv ol her best hours is eaten up in such an incredibly short space of time. !

Yet her experience lits in with universal experience. How much of the world’s labour revolves round the one enormous problem of feeding families ? . . . i [ think the great lessons God wished us to learn from the world wide, age-long question of meals were firstly our continual need of Him; and secondly, our mutual dependence on each other. As the centpries have rolled on we have, become increasingly intcr-dependent until an average meal represents the results of the human labours and varied climates of almost every part of the world. . . .

Modern life makes so many demands upon us. It threatens- to engulf the serenity and satisfaction ol‘ meal times. This is where fathers and mothers must co-operate; where

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE

tin* hidden ideals of Lite home will bo either victorious or submergedThis is whore God comes in. For loud may he wril cooked and the tabl e well set, and yet we may fail to achieve at meal times the goal of family happiness which is the topmost peak of meal time achievement.

No family can enjoy meals- to the full-if there is a distracted mother, an abstracted father, and children who are not taught that in order to achieve joyous meal times together we must show the self-control and unselfishness that we lump together as “good manners.” The great assets to happy meal times are calm and cheerfulness. People must learn to he punctual and polite, anti to leave at the dooi of the. dining room the personal worries and troubles that conduce to a harrassed atmosphere. And this is where, too, the value of Grace comes in. As we unite, as a family, in genuine thanksgiving to God I'or all liis mercies, the act should he a fence between the labours and burdens of even a child’s experience, and this happy unspoiled time of fellowship together round the table God Himself has spread for us. Grace reminds of us His constant care for us. It reminds us that as a family we arc; united in the sense of gratitude and service. “Father we thank r l bee fo r these fiiy mercies. Bless them to our use, and US to Thv service.” Let the children take by all means, in the saying of Grace when they are little, hut let it he accompanied by a real spirit ot reverence and dedication. As thej reach the self-conscmo., stage, perhaps it is better for the father of the family to he “the priest of his household.” But never let us omit the saying of Grace. Conversation at meal times is an art to be studied! As a rule childr ren all want to speak at once. They arrive at the table bursting with news of every kind. Father opens the newspaper and tries to tell mother how the Russians are doing. Mother attempts to explain to father that “the steak is not too tender as usual because.

. . Oi' father turns on the. wireless and mother sighs, knowing full well that the children’s table manners will rapidly deteriorate under cover of the noise; and that there will be a parental explosion as soon as father removes his gaze irom Europe, or the Pacific and concentrates once again on his progeny. L am not enthusiastic about newspaper or the wireless at meal times. . As to table manners, if there are faults to be found, let it he done quickly, brightly decisively and the conversation switched to happier subjects. The attitude, “Oh it’s hopeless, it’s no use speaking,” or “How many times have I told you?” is too lugubrious ... to achieve the best results.