"Be Good To Yourself"

The above title is from the second chapter of brother Leroy Brownlow's book entitled, Better Than Medicine, Brownlow Publishing Company, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, 1967, pg. 16-18. In this chapter, brother Brownlow relates the following story:

Several years ago, a farmer passed from this world leaving his widow and five little children. One world had ended for them, but she opened up a new one with the view that they had God above them, the soil beneath them, and each other at their side; and thus with this combination, she concluded that they would make it. The years passed and they more than made it.

Each child made such a mark in the world, that it attracted wide attention. As interest grew in this intriguing story of success, mothered and nurtured in the hills, a magazine sent a reporter to interview the gracious and God-fearing, humble and hard-working mother to learn the secret of her accomplishments, to ascertain how she, with so little, gave her children so much. She answered the question by saying, "Being I don't have much education, I just had to use my head." She had never had a course in psychology, but, in using her head, she taught them by word and deed the graceful and stalwart conditions of health and happiness, well-being and joy.

She cultivated the following: (1) Love; (2) Cheerfulness; (3) Work; (4) Optimism; (5) Religion.

Beloved, if we can cultivate and teach the same above five attributes to our children and grandchildren, their lives will forever be enriched, and God's abundant blessings will nurture them, not only in this life, but in the life to come (John 10:10; 1 Timothy 6:17-19; cf. Matthew 6:20-21).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets