The CMP Review — Week of March 30
March 30, 2026
“We may never see the result, but the little seed will take root and grow one day into a great tree—a tree that may be for the healing of the nations.” (V. M. Hood, “Reading in the Nursery”, PR28)@tessakeath
March 31, 2026
“When CM uses the word ‘personality,’ should we take her to mean ‘personhood’ or ‘personness’?” wrote my friend. “Today, personality usually (always?) means the collection of all the unique characteristics which make one person different from another person.”
My friend’s question was a natural one. Surely Charlotte Mason must have had in mind lofty ideas like personhood and bearing the image of God. She could not possibly have been referring to something as banal as individual distinctions and personal characteristics… or could she?
To answer my friend’s question, I am pointing him to a 1918 article by Rev. Francis Lewis, a devoted friend of Miss Mason and frequent contributor to the Parents’ Review. Published in December of that year, the article surveys a range of topics from the education of individuals to the relationship between nations.
Lewis offers a definition of the word personality. But he does much more than that. He also talks about how the Lord Jesus Christ developed the personality of each individual disciple and how personality may be developed by parents and teacher today. And in the course of his piece, he reminds us of the Cross, the Resurrection, and the Consummation of all things. It is not only an insightful article on education; it is also a wonderful meditation for Holy Week. Find it here.
@artmiddlekauff
April 1, 2026
Eggs come in a range of colors, sizes, textures, and shapes. Even chicken eggs can range from light to dark brown, green, blue, white, and everything in-between. This diversity makes eggs so fun to add to one’s nature journal.
In this tutorial, I’ve chosen to watercolor quail eggs in order to show you how to paint two distinct patterns: speckled and swirled. You can apply most of the steps seen here no matter which type of egg you choose.
Find video and written instructions in this month’s issue, NEST, from Wild + Free (by subscription), with gorgeous photos @aolander.
Not a subscriber? Try a free trial membership and see if it’s for you.
@rbaburina
April 2, 2026
“Maundy Thursday takes its name from the new commandment, the new mandatum, that Jesus’ followers should love one another as he has loved them. That will be the sign that they are indeed his disciples…
“Just in case anyone should imagine that what Jesus did might be of general relevance but not specifically related to them personally, Jesus comes to each in turn, comes as the Servant, comes with water and towel and washes their feet. It is an intimate, precious, private moment. And it says, as clearly as anything ever could: I’m doing this for you—yes, you, not just the person sitting next to you. And if you let me wash you, I can clean and rinse and refresh every part of you, the sad parts, the lonely parts, the messy and muddled parts, the parts you wish with all your heart could be healed. They can be. Taste my bread, drink my wine, and let me wash you. That’s what my coming death is all about.”
— N. T. Wright, The Scriptures, the Cross and the Power of God, pp. 53 & 56
@artmiddlekauff
April 3, 2026
“From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.’ Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.”
(Matthew 27:45–51)
@antonella.f.greco
April 4, 2026
Too Much
I should have been too glad, I see,
Too lifted for the scant degree
Of life’s penurious round;
My little circuit would have shamed
This new circumference, have blamed
The homelier time behind.
I should have been too saved, I see,
Too rescued; fear too dim to me
That I could spell the prayer
I knew so perfect yesterday,—
That scalding one, “Sabachthani,”
Recited fluent here.
Earth would have been too much, I see,
And heaven not enough for me;
I should have had the joy
Without the fear to justify,—
The palm without the Calvary;
So, Saviour, crucify.
Defeat whets victory, they say;
The reefs in old Gethsemane
Endear the shore beyond.
’T is beggars banquets best define;
’T is thirsting vitalizes wine,—
Faith faints to understand.
Emily Dickinson
@antonella.f.greco
April 5, 2026
“Easter takes away all anxiety, all uneasiness, all self-reproach; we are all taken into the supreme joy of Easter-time.
“Again, the resurrection is not a thing of the future, it is now. The true message of this great Easter joy is ‘There is no death’—only our flesh can die.”
— Charlotte Mason
Happy Easter from the Charlotte Mason Poetry team!