The CMP Review — Week of August 7

August 7, 2023

“Most of the time of the Nursery Folk is spent out-of-doors, and rightly so. Therefore it is quite an easy thing to help them to be friends with Mother Nature.” (J. R. Smith, PR28, “Nature in the Nursery”)

@tessakeath

August 8, 2023

Raising an only child has many rewards and special challenges. Parents have specific concerns like will my child be spoiled? will she be bored? will he always be tied to my apron-strings?

Just like the parents of multiple children, as a parent of an “only,” I want my child to be kind, to have fun, to be independent, to be personable, to have a well-formed character, to be able to interact with the world and the people around her, to be aware of the breadth of what she is able to accomplish with her body, to be creative, to engage in life-giving hobbies, to know that she is loved and to love others.

For much encouragement (and a few words of warning) for parents of only children from one such mother in 1957, take a listen or a read to this article by Sheila Fawcett. Oh and by the way, most of her principles apply to parents of many children too! Find it here.

@antonella.f.greco

August 9, 2023

It’s that most wonderful time of the year for planner people as 2024 planners and covers are soon to be released (or have been for preorder)!

My current read is The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran & Michael Lennington. It’s different from breaking a year into quarters as 12 weeks are now viewed as a year, a week as a month, and a day as a week. As someone used to planning 12-week terms, I like the overarching vision and am intrigued by the focus on executing tasks, doing the hard things, accountability, and keeping score of the week’s outcome (the data doesn’t lie).

Let me know if you’ve made your planner selection or have a favorite book on productivity.

@rbaburina

August 10, 2023

Only moments after my daughter was born, I held her in my arms. It was the first of our many steps together on her journey from dependence to independence. I watched her learn to stand and to walk, and to grow from being a baby to being a girl.

I taught her to read so her mind could flourish. I taught her math, from counting to calculus, so she could reason and reflect. Together we read the Bible and I listened to her narrations; I typed them, I recorded them, I remembered them. As she narrated she developed her own thoughts and perspective. Her mind became independent.

I sat by her side as she began to drive, until the day she could drive anywhere she wanted, with only a small card in her pocket to say she had the right. After I taught her everything I could, we had a ceremony in our front yard and she was released from daddy’s school. It was time for her to go to college and to learn the things that I did not know.

And then on Saturday, I stood by her side and she was dressed like a queen. I could hear the violin from the sanctuary as the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and flower girls slowly processed in. I turned to her crowned visage and said that it was time for me to hand her over to another man. I prayed with her quietly, and then it was our turn to process down the aisle.

It was a moving moment, a magical moment, a majestic moment. But each step down the aisle was just another step on a path I had begun so many years before. From dependence to independence. I was her guide on a journey from baby to girl to woman. I gave her everything I had so I could give her away. It’s not a loss. It’s the high calling of being a dad.

@artmiddlekauff

📷: @k.o._scop

August 11, 2023

“Another elemental relationship, which every child should be taught and encouraged to set up, is that of power over material. Every child makes sand castles, mud-pies, paper boats, and he or she should go on to work in clay, wood, brass, iron, leather, dress-stuffs, food-stuffs, furnishing-stuffs. He should be able to make with his hands and should take delight in making.” (Vol III, p. 80)

@antonella.f.greco

August 12, 2023

“Consider, too, what an unequalled mental training the child-naturalist is getting for any study or calling under the sun—the powers of attention, of discrimination, of patient pursuit, growing with his growth, what will they not fit him for?” (Vol. 1 p. 61)

@tessakeath

In John 8:58, Jesus Christ says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” Fr. Lawrence R. Farley explains the meaning of these words:

The Greek for Jesus’ claim “I am” is ego eimi. In other contexts, the words ego eimi could mean no more than “I am the one”… In this context, however, it clearly means more, since Christ’s hearers responded by trying to stone Him for alleged blasphemy.

It is, in fact, a reference to the Divine Name of God, which He revealed to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3. At that time, Yahweh was asked by Moses what His Name was, and He responded, “I am that I am”—in the Greek Septuagint, ego eimi…

By declaring to the Jews “I am,” Christ was claiming nothing less than that He was the One who revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush, that He was one with the Father, the eternal I Am.

Fr. Farley helps us see that Christ was speaking to Moses at the burning bush. Charlotte Mason’s poem on this verse imagines so much more: Christ speaking to Enoch, Methuselah, and David.

But Mason imagines even more than that. Christ appearing to conquerors and philosophers, even the most famous philosopher of all time. Read or listen to Mason’s wondrous poem here.

@artmiddlekauff