The Thought of God
From Dr. Shannon Whiteside, Alveary Program Director
In School Education, Charlotte Mason discusses some religious habits that are important for children to develop. One of these habits is the thought of God. She states, “It is said of the wicked that 'God is not in all their thoughts.' Of the child it should be said that God is in all his thoughts; happy-making, joyous thoughts, restful and dutiful thoughts, thoughts of loving and giving and serving, the wealth of beautiful thoughts with which every child's heart overflows…What he needs is to be guided into true, happy thinking; every day should bring him 'new thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven.' He understands things divine better than we do, because his ideas have not been shaped to a conventional standard; and thoughts of God are to him an escape into the infinite from the worrying limitations, the perception of the prison bars which are among the bitter pangs of childhood. To keep a child in this habit of the thought of God––so that to lose it, for even a little while, is like coming home after an absence and finding his mother out––is a very delicate part of a parent's work” (p. 141).
I often think about that quote and what it means to make the thought of God a habit. Recently two different people have provided some more insight. In Practicing the Way, which is part of the high school program, John Mark Comer addresses this important idea. “Through habit you can co-create with Jesus a mind that is fixed on God through the day…Each time you get a little mental breath in the busyness of your life—that split second after you hit send on the email, the moment when you come to a red light, or those first conscious thoughts when you awake from sleep—through deliberate practice, you can train your mind to come back to God, come back to God, come back to God” (p. 44). It may not be the natural thing to do but through a conscious effort to take moments throughout the day to think about the Lord, meditate on a verse or pray, it will become our new default setting.
The other person who has brought new insight into the habit of the thought of God is my younger daughter. This summer she shared this journal entry with me about what she experienced when she was at the local park. “I saw underneath a big tree a little fuzz ball of a bird. I thought it was dead, because it was not moving, but then realized it was only asleep. I saw that above me there were two full grown robins, probably the baby’s parents. An elderly couple walked by, and I asked them about it. They said that the parents pushed it out of the nest, and there was nothing that could be done about it. I went home and thought how lucky I was to have two parents who love their kids and would do anything for them. I thought it was cruel for the bird’s parents not to help their baby, but now its fate is in God’s hands. I am grateful for all my parents do for me. When the time comes, I will fly. But even if I fall, God will catch me.” Spending time in nature provides endless opportunities to practice the habit of the thought of God.
Notes
- HST Science Kits Sale: Valid 9/17/24-9/23/24 Save 10% on HST Science Kits with code SCIENCEFUN10. Exclusions apply.
- Citizenship Grades 8 & 10: For American Government, the Reading PDF and Supplementary PDF that is used for most of the lessons, can be found under Quick Links. For Alveary+ members-We added the link to these PDFs in each lesson. If that is not showing up, you will need to unenroll from the course, delete the course, and then enroll again so you can get the updated version.
- Exams: Term 1 Exams are now available. You can find them in Step 5 of your Dashboard!
- Teacher’s Notes & Exams in Alveary+: In Alveary+, teacher tips and sensitive content are found in the Teacher Notes section of a lesson. Check the "Teacher’s Notes" by clicking the arrow next to the headings Grade, Attachments, Comments, and Submissions. Exam questions will also appear here during exam week.
- Office Hours: Join us for Office Hours on Thursday, September 19, for a discussion about the different notebooks that are used in a Mason education including nature journal, citizenship notebook, Book of Centuries and other history charts.
