Day 28 By Degrees

The Mosaic Christ, Source Unknown

“That which has become the dominant idea of one person's life, if it be launched suddenly at another, conveys no very great depth or weight of meaning to the second person––he wants to get at it by degrees, to see the steps by which the other has travelled.”

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“But let the imaginations of children be stored with the pictures, their minds nourished upon the words, of the gradually unfolding story of the Scriptures, and they will come to look out upon a wide horizon within which persons and events take shape in their due place and in due proportion. By degrees, they will see that the world is a stage whereon the goodness of God is continually striving with the wilfulness of man; that some heroic men take sides with God; and that others, foolish and headstrong, oppose themselves to Him. The fire of enthusiasm will kindle in their breast, and the children, too, will take their side, without much exhortation, or any thought or talk of spiritual experience.”

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“Then, by degrees, as we go on reading this world-teacher, (Shakespeare) lines of insight and beauty take possession of us, and unconsciously mould our judgments of men and things and of the great issues of life.

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“… the object in our gospel reading should be, less to find words of comfort and admonition for ourselves, than to perceive with our minds and receive upon our hearts the impress of Christ. To know him is life, and is the whole of life; and every thought of Him, walking in the cornfields, sitting weary by the well, moving among crowds or in solitary places, raising his eyes upon the multitude, taking by the hand that little maid, ––every such living conception we get of Christ is life to us. Just as, from the apparently casual touches of the painter, the living likeness grows, so, by laying upon the canvas of our hearts every apparently casual and insignificant detail about our Master, we shall by degrees gather a living vision of the Son of Man;”

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“…we are guilty of fraudulent practices. What he (the child) wants is the world and every bit, piece by piece, each bit a key to the rest.”
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“By degrees children get that knowledge of God which is the object of the final daily prayer in our beautiful liturgy – the prayer of St. Chrysostom – ‘Grant us in this world knowledge of Thy truth,’ and all other knowledge which they obtain gathers round and illuminates this.”

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“God is a wise husbandman, who "waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it (James 5:7). He cannot gather the fruit until it is ripe.                                                            
                                                  ~ Andrew Murray
 
Examen: How is each accumulating day in a Mason classroom like stringing beads of a sacramental rosary, or adding pieces to a ever-expanding mosaic of the Incarnation?


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That which has become: Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:97.
But let the imaginations: 1:249.
Then, by degrees: Charlotte M. Mason, Ourselves Bk. II.
...the object in: 4:91–92 Bk.II.
...we are guilty: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:42.
By degrees children: 6:64.
God is a wise: Andrew Murray, Waiting on God (Moody Pub, 1961), 101–2.

Day 28 By Degrees meditation/100 Days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025

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