Day 40 Circumstances

                                                      (see also Brought Up)
 
“It behooves each of us to lay ourselves out for instruction, to read, inquire, think, to look about us for a way of acting, believing - 'That Circumstance, a sacred oracle, Speaks with the voice of God to faithful souls;' and it is usually in our way and not by going out of our way, that we shall find the particular piece of brotherly work appointed for us to do.”

                                                   *
 
“It is true that here and there circumstances step in and 'make a man' of the boy whose parents have failed to bring him under discipline; but this is a fortuitous aid which the educator is no way warranted to count upon.”
 
                                                   *
 
“And the story goes on to show, without laborious pointing of the moral, how Waverly by name was wavering by nature, was ever the sport of circumstances because he had not learned in youth to direct his course.”
 
                                                   *
 
“All this is old matter, and I must beg the reader to forgive me for reminding him again that our educational instruments remain the same. We may not leave off the attempt to form good habits with tact and care, to suggest fruitful ideas, without too much insistence, and to make wise use of circumstances.”
 
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“One idea is free, one great will-choice is open to us all. We are inclined to wait upon circumstances and upon opportunities, but it is not necessary, nor, indeed, does it answer, for the person who waits for his opportunity is not ready for it when it comes. The great decision open to us all, the great will act of a life, is whether we shall make our particular Mansoul available for service by means of knowledge, love, and endeavour. Then, the opportunities that come are not our affair, any more than it is the affair of the soldier whether he has sentry duty or is called to the attack.”

                                                   *

“Do we choose to do or even to suffer the will of our Father:
‘holding as creed,
         That Circumstance, a sacred oracle,
         Speaks with the voice of God to faithful souls’”
 
 
Examen:  Do I believe that even the little details of daily life are the voice of God to me? What is the role of circumstance in education?   What does that look like practically?

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It behooves us: Charlotte M. Mason, Ourselves, 4:105 Bk.II also Bk.I 118.
It is true:  Charlotte M. Mason,  Home Education, 1:103.
And the story: Charlotte M. Mason,  Parents and Children, 2:63.
All this is old:  Charlotte M. Mason, School, 3:185.
One idea is free: Ourselves, 4:151.
Do we choose: Mason, Scale How Meditations, 174.

Day 40  Circumstance meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025

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