Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Stepping Heavenward

I recently finished reading this delightful book called Stepping Heavenward written by Elizabeth Prentiss 1869. It is a book about a woman's lifelong journey to become more Christlike. Here are two of my favorite passages from the book about motherhood.

p.240 Background: Her sister in law has made negative comments about the expense of having to feed and clothe a new baby which has joined their household.

"Well! this is one side of the story, to be sure, but I look at the other. Here is a sweet, fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery. Here is a soul to train for God, and the body in which it dwells is worthy all it will cost, since it is the abode of a kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ's name, I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other darlings had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother's heart, welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her life-long prayers! Oh, how rich I am, how truly, how wonderously blest!" And one more quote from page 344.
Background: Katy has been having a discussion with Mrs. Brown about the blessings of having children.
Mrs. Brown: "You seem awful earnest, she said."
Katy:"Yes, I am in earnest. I want to see little children adorning every home, as flowers adorn every meadow and every wayside. I want to see them welcomed to the homes they enter, to see their parents grow less and less selfish, and more and more loving, because they have come. I want to see God's precious gifts accepted, not frowned upon and refused."

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