My husband read me the following excerpt from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird last night. It reinforced to me once again some of the reasons why I bother to teach my own to children. Yeats once said that " Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire.". I want to kindle a passion for growing and learning and broadening in my children. I do not want to smother them in a weighty burden of educational "twaddle".
This excerpt is narrated from the perspective of a eight year old Southern girl named Scout:
"The remainder of my school days were no more auspicious than the first. Indeed, they were an endless Project that slowly evolved int a Unit, in which miles of construction paper and wax crayon were expended by the State of Alabama in its well-meaning but fruitless efforts to teach me Group Dynamics. What Jem called the Dewey Decimal System was school-wide by the end of my first year, so I had no chance to compare it with other teaching techniques. I could only look around me: Atticus and my uncle, who went to school at home, knew everything-at least what one did not the other did. Furthermore, I couldn't help noticing that my father had served for years in the state legislature, elected each time without opposition, innocent of the adjustments my teachers thought essential to the development of Good Citizenship. Jem, educated on a half-Decimal half-Duncecap basis, seemed to function effectively alone or in a group, but Jem was a poor example: no tutorial system devised by man could have stopped him from getting at books. As for me I knew nothing except what I gathered from Time magazine and reading everything I could lay my hands on at home, but as I inched sluggishly along the treadmill of the Maycomb County school system, I could not help receiving the impression that I was being cheated out of something. Out of what I knew not, yet I did not believe that unrelieved boredom was exactly what the state had in mind for me."
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
There is no fear in love
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18
Fear and love are incompatible. Fear gnaws the heart out of love. Love casts away fear disregarding the pain. Fear torments, tortures and attacks. Love comforts, strengthens, and protects. Fear builds walls to keep out pain. Love makes itself vulnerable to pain. Fear controls. Love sets free. Fear divides. Love inextricably unites. Fear is about self. Love is about God. Fear refuses to die. Love surrenders its life. Fear is cold, sterile, and barren. Love is warm, life bearing, and fertile. Fear is living death. Love is life abundant.
Fear and love are incompatible. Fear gnaws the heart out of love. Love casts away fear disregarding the pain. Fear torments, tortures and attacks. Love comforts, strengthens, and protects. Fear builds walls to keep out pain. Love makes itself vulnerable to pain. Fear controls. Love sets free. Fear divides. Love inextricably unites. Fear is about self. Love is about God. Fear refuses to die. Love surrenders its life. Fear is cold, sterile, and barren. Love is warm, life bearing, and fertile. Fear is living death. Love is life abundant.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The juicy, dripping, sweet tasting fruit of righteousness
This morning I have been chewing on Charlotte Mason's observation that, " Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life."
No matter how large the scope of my teaching aspirations, the end result is merely the culmination of a life time of choices. Almost every minute of my days choices present themselves. Each of these decisions creates an atmosphere, reinforces a good or bad habit, and results in the unique culture of my family.
Atmosphere. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as, "a dominant intellectual or emotional environment or attitude". I choose to immerse my children in the written word. I decide to read poetry to them. I intentionally expose them to stories far beyond their realm of experience. Surrounding my little ones with books, audio cd's, verbal stories, and other resources is a means of creating an atmosphere in which they feed on ideas. Atmospheres like that do not just happen, they take work. It is not always easy or convenient to talk, to answer questions, to communicate ideas. Often I do not want to, but then I remember that Deuteronomy 6:6-9 does not allow me to ignore their questions:
"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. "
The more I embrace this command, the richer and fuller will be the atmosphere that pervades my home.
But it is not just an atmosphere. Education is a discipline as well. There are mornings where I am so not in the mood to teach my six year old the difference between a diphthong and a digraph, or to train him to work promptly. There are certainly days when I have no desire to remind my five year old what 2+3= yet again. I have to remind myself that " All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." If I desire the fruit I must submit to the discipline.
When I embrace this calling to create an atmosphere, and to instill habits of discipline, the result is a life. A life of learning, of growing, of enjoying. A life of tasting and seeing and hearing and smelling and touching the goodness of the Lord. A family life where ideas are planted and grow and give birth to juicy, dripping, sweet tasting fruit.
No matter how large the scope of my teaching aspirations, the end result is merely the culmination of a life time of choices. Almost every minute of my days choices present themselves. Each of these decisions creates an atmosphere, reinforces a good or bad habit, and results in the unique culture of my family.
Atmosphere. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as, "a dominant intellectual or emotional environment or attitude". I choose to immerse my children in the written word. I decide to read poetry to them. I intentionally expose them to stories far beyond their realm of experience. Surrounding my little ones with books, audio cd's, verbal stories, and other resources is a means of creating an atmosphere in which they feed on ideas. Atmospheres like that do not just happen, they take work. It is not always easy or convenient to talk, to answer questions, to communicate ideas. Often I do not want to, but then I remember that Deuteronomy 6:6-9 does not allow me to ignore their questions:
"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. "
The more I embrace this command, the richer and fuller will be the atmosphere that pervades my home.
But it is not just an atmosphere. Education is a discipline as well. There are mornings where I am so not in the mood to teach my six year old the difference between a diphthong and a digraph, or to train him to work promptly. There are certainly days when I have no desire to remind my five year old what 2+3= yet again. I have to remind myself that " All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." If I desire the fruit I must submit to the discipline.
When I embrace this calling to create an atmosphere, and to instill habits of discipline, the result is a life. A life of learning, of growing, of enjoying. A life of tasting and seeing and hearing and smelling and touching the goodness of the Lord. A family life where ideas are planted and grow and give birth to juicy, dripping, sweet tasting fruit.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Honesty... consistency... really?
Russel Kirk in the Conservative Mind made the following observation on the relative ineffectivity of John Quincy Adams' administration, and I find it true not only of conservatives then, but also now.
"During his later years, John Quincy Adams suffered agonizing doubts concerning the Deity. That God willed the state, the conviction of Hooker and Burke, always had been a tremendously energizing principle of conservatism: now, influenced against their instinct by what Glanville calls the "climate of opinion," conservatives were losing their certitude: and with it went their immunity against French and Benthamite rationalism. Conservatism had become uncertain how to reply to sophisters and calculators." (emphasis mine)
Unshakable belief in an all powerful, all sovereign Creator from whom all power and authority is derived, and unshakable belief that He interacts with man in space and time, and that He has given all authority in heaven and on Earth to the Person of His Son Jesus Christ who is the Ruler of the Nations, is indeed a "tremendously energizing principle". It is a principle capable of toppling all "the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places". It is a principle that liberates men to pursue righteousness without fear, without compromise, without inconsistencies.
If our confidence in the Sovereignty of God, in His rule over the nations, and in His eternal purpose were lived out in in the political arena, then we would undoubtedly possess the gates of our enemies. The nations would shake in fear at the people whose God is the Lord. They would kiss the Son lest He become angry and they perish in the way. They would be in fear of the King and know themselves to be but men. But we are afraid, we tremble before the face of man, and loose our certitude, becoming unable to reply. We demand "traditional values", yet deny the foundation from which they are derived. Justly, we are accused of an irrational faith because we demand that culture conform to our standards, yet mumble and sputter and when asked why we think we can impose them on the world. We are terrified by the consistent, logical conclusions of the godless, so then why do we shirk from the first premises of our own faith?
The catch is this. Before we can reject this dichotomy at a political level, we must first be willing to kiss the Son ourselves at a personal level. Followers of the Way, the Truth, and the Life must first bow our hearts, our bodies, and minds to the Sovereign. We are not our own, we are bought with a price. We are not free to self, but slaves to Christ. Before we can rule with Him, we first must be crucified. Before we can seek the Kingdom, we first must bow beneath His yoke. We must present our bodies, not just our mouths, as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God which is our reasonable service. Only then do we dare to assail the gates of our enemies, and proclaim Christ as Lord of the nations.
"During his later years, John Quincy Adams suffered agonizing doubts concerning the Deity. That God willed the state, the conviction of Hooker and Burke, always had been a tremendously energizing principle of conservatism: now, influenced against their instinct by what Glanville calls the "climate of opinion," conservatives were losing their certitude: and with it went their immunity against French and Benthamite rationalism. Conservatism had become uncertain how to reply to sophisters and calculators." (emphasis mine)
Unshakable belief in an all powerful, all sovereign Creator from whom all power and authority is derived, and unshakable belief that He interacts with man in space and time, and that He has given all authority in heaven and on Earth to the Person of His Son Jesus Christ who is the Ruler of the Nations, is indeed a "tremendously energizing principle". It is a principle capable of toppling all "the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places". It is a principle that liberates men to pursue righteousness without fear, without compromise, without inconsistencies.
If our confidence in the Sovereignty of God, in His rule over the nations, and in His eternal purpose were lived out in in the political arena, then we would undoubtedly possess the gates of our enemies. The nations would shake in fear at the people whose God is the Lord. They would kiss the Son lest He become angry and they perish in the way. They would be in fear of the King and know themselves to be but men. But we are afraid, we tremble before the face of man, and loose our certitude, becoming unable to reply. We demand "traditional values", yet deny the foundation from which they are derived. Justly, we are accused of an irrational faith because we demand that culture conform to our standards, yet mumble and sputter and when asked why we think we can impose them on the world. We are terrified by the consistent, logical conclusions of the godless, so then why do we shirk from the first premises of our own faith?
The catch is this. Before we can reject this dichotomy at a political level, we must first be willing to kiss the Son ourselves at a personal level. Followers of the Way, the Truth, and the Life must first bow our hearts, our bodies, and minds to the Sovereign. We are not our own, we are bought with a price. We are not free to self, but slaves to Christ. Before we can rule with Him, we first must be crucified. Before we can seek the Kingdom, we first must bow beneath His yoke. We must present our bodies, not just our mouths, as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God which is our reasonable service. Only then do we dare to assail the gates of our enemies, and proclaim Christ as Lord of the nations.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Thoughts on the morning to come
It is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God--his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?-- the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great. You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip.
Psalm 18:28-36
Monday morning will be here soon. Piles of weekend laundry, a sink of dirty dishes, appointments to make, a pile of newly arrived school books to begin, stubborn little hearts to train, and my own battles with sin to wage. By myself will come anger, resentment, frustration, but by my God I can leap over a wall, by my God I can bend a bow of bronze, by my God I am armed with strength. He is the God who exists. The God who is there. He is my light, my only hope, and the saving strength of my life. He alone delivers me from the power of sin. He alone can make my way blameless. So I begin a new week at the feet of my Lord claiming His promise that His right hand will support me, and that He will not allow my feet to slip.
For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?-- the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great. You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip.
Psalm 18:28-36
Monday morning will be here soon. Piles of weekend laundry, a sink of dirty dishes, appointments to make, a pile of newly arrived school books to begin, stubborn little hearts to train, and my own battles with sin to wage. By myself will come anger, resentment, frustration, but by my God I can leap over a wall, by my God I can bend a bow of bronze, by my God I am armed with strength. He is the God who exists. The God who is there. He is my light, my only hope, and the saving strength of my life. He alone delivers me from the power of sin. He alone can make my way blameless. So I begin a new week at the feet of my Lord claiming His promise that His right hand will support me, and that He will not allow my feet to slip.
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