Christmas Countdown with Charlotte Mason, Week 5 of 12: Heroes of Faith

8 weeks until Christmas...

Here is this week's passage from Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children, Chapter 26: The Eternal Child

"Children are Objective in Tendency––Now, the tendency of children is to be altogether objective, not at all subjective, and perhaps that is why they are said to be first in the kingdom of heaven. This philosophic distinction is not one which we can put aside as having no bearing on everyday life. It strikes the keynote for the training of children. In proportion as our training tends to develop the subjective principle, it tends to place our children on a lower level of purpose, character, and usefulness throughout their lives; while so far as we develop the objective principle, with which the children are born, we make them capable of love, service, heroism, worship."

In the spirit of Charlotte Mason:

Love, service, heroism, worship: these are the things that education should equip us to be and do. Love must have an object. Heroism includes fighting to save and protect others, with little thought for ourselves. Serving and worship also need someone or something outside ourselves.Were you educated with a view to "developing the objective principle?"

If not, Charlotte Mason suggests finding some little children to hang around with, and taking notes from them. (Something that Jesus also recommended.) 

Things to do this week:

If you don't have children close at hand, maybe this is a week to explore family memories and photographs. Or re-read stored-away books that brought you or your children wonder. (Some of my friends recommend The Christmas Mystery, by Jostein Gaarder.)

What's the big holiday this week that has nothing to do with pumpkins? All Saints' Day, November 1st. When our children were younger, that was the night for good clothes, the lace tablecloth, and an invisible "guest" chosen from Christian history. Such events don't need to be for children only; we continue to remember and honour those who loved, served, worshipped, and acted as heroes of faith.

Do you wear aprons? I hardly ever do at home (what do I do that's so messy?), but they are useful for helping out in the kitchen at church or somewhere, and they're also a good symbol of service. (Or you might just think they look cute.) A few years ago, I helped review a downloadable apron pattern, and while it wasn't hard to make, I was a bit shocked at the amount of new fabric it took. Fortunately there are ways around that, and this video on My Green Closet (starting at the 2:30 mark) shows how to upcycle an existing dress into a useful apron. Or you can use skirts, men's shirts, or old jeans. Tip Junkie has more apron ideas.

I don't know why, but the beginning of November always feels a bit Return-to-Narnian around here. I'm thinking of apples, sausages, and cold forest mornings. There's always the off-chance of a bit of snow, or even a lot of snow by the end of the month. Time to get hats and gloves ready for cold weather.

A thought for All Saints' Day

 "The great recognition that God, the Holy Spirit, is Himself personally the imparter of knowledge...this is the key to the whole education of each boy and girl. Practical discernment and knowledge of everyday matters, the discovery of the secrets of nature, the great inventions, every conception of beauty or truth and their expression--all have one history, each must have been a great idea when it first made a stir in the mind of the man, woman or child who conceived it." ~~ Charlotte Mason

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do... 19 Consequently, you are ... fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2, NIV)

All Saints' Day

In some countries and in some churches, November 1 is a day to remember the dead.

In our house, All Saints' Day is a day to celebrate eternal life, and those people who have been part of the "cloud of witnesses" in Christian history. Every year we choose one person to be our dinner "guest," and plan table decorations, a devotion and maybe the food around that person. We've had Noah, with a toy Noah's Ark on the table; C.S. Lewis, with a stuffed lion and some books; and Queen Margaret of Scotland, with tartan trimmings and a fancy medieval-looking covered book.

Tonight's guest is going to be George Washington Carver. Not every Christian hero is a missionary or a pastor; God uses us, if you'll excuse the expression, "where we're planted."

I liked this quote from an Amazon review (of George Washington Carver: His Life & Faith in His Own Words):

In 1921, Carver addressed the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee regarding the endless uses of the peanut. At the end of his address, the chairman asked:

"Dr. Carver how did you learn all of these things?"

Carver answered, "From an old book."

"What book?" asked the chairman.

Carver replied, "The Bible."

The chairman inquired, "Does the Bible tell about peanuts?"

"No, sir" Dr. Carver replied, "But it tells me about the God who made the peanut. I asked Him to show me what to do with the peanut, and He did."

Now, what are we going to serve tonight? Unfortunately, Mr. Fixit can't eat peanuts, so we can't try Carver's original peanut recipes (check out #59--Peanut Butter Sandwiches). Don't have any cowpeas, either. Sweet potatoes? Soybeans? Durn, I was going to pick up some tofu at the supermarket last Saturday, but one of the packages had leaked all over the others so I passed on it.

Well, some kind of beans or nuts, anyway. We do have some cashews...

[Update: well, our Carver meal wasn't too authentic. I did make Bean Balls with a can of romano beans; I thought that was somewhat in the spirit of Carver's leguminousness. So we had pasta with spaghetti sauce (or blood sauce, nod to Coffeemamma) and Bean Balls, and the Hillbilly Housewife's Garlic Breadsticks which we haven't made for quite awhile, and raw veggies, and chocolate pudding. Ponytails was a big help getting all this ready, and vacuuming, and even helping get some extra dishes done before the meal--blowing kisses your way.]

We Celebrate the Saints, no matter what's on the menu.

[Update: We played a couple of peanut party games after the meal, except that we didn't have any peanuts so we used other things. Everybody got a drinking straw and a dish of big dried squash seeds, and you had to suck on the straw to pick up a seed and move it to another dish. Mama Squirrel thinks she holds the record for sucking the most seeds in thirty seconds. The other game was a peanut rubber ball race--you had to put a straw in your mouth and push a small rubber ball to the finish line.

I hope the Saints were laughing.]