CMP Review 2024-11-24

In her detailed account of the formation of habit in Home Education, Charlotte Mason warns of “The Dangerous Stage” (pp. 124–125). Just when it appears that a habit has been formed, the “critical moment” arrives. Sadly, that is when the mother relaxes her vigilance. The consequence is complete: “the mother’s mis-timed easiness has lost for her every foot of the ground she had gained.”

Ralph Earle finds in Matthew 12:43–45 a similar lesson about habit formation. He writes: “The warning for individuals is that reformation is not enough. One must not only cast off bad habits, but allow his heart to be filled with Jesus Christ and his life with worthwhile activity. Otherwise he will find himself a victim to worse habits than before. No heart can long stay empty. One’s only safety lies in keeping both heart and life filled with the good, that there may be no room for the bad.”

In that Gospel passage, Jesus warns: “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’” Norval Geldenhuys comments, “Even purely psychological considerations render it imperative that, when a person has passed through a crisis which has contributed to his renunciation of former sins and evil practices in his life, he must immediately in place thereof let his life be filled with what is beautiful and noble, otherwise the old sins and evils will return in renewed violence.… There cannot be a vacuum in man’s soul.”

Charlotte Mason’s poetic reflection on this important passage brings out the sober truth. One can be “made clean by Christ,” yet be “unplenished of His grace,” she warns. Read or hear the whole poem here.

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