I wonder why:: O.B.E.D.I.E.N.C.E.

Friday, June 5, 2009

O.B.E.D.I.E.N.C.E.

Recently two friends and I were sharing a late cup of decaf coffee. We were sharing stories of how we first met each other and how far our friendships have grown. One friend said that her first visit to my house surprised her. She found the word OBEDIENCE over the doorway to our school room.

As I thought back to that school semester (maybe three years ago?), I wondered what triggered my processes to have LARGE BLUE LETTERS spelling out OBEDIENCE over a doorway for the children (and myself) to see. I went to the text which I first read about helping to instill obedience (virtue) in children-Character Building by Issacs.

I quote:"Obedience awakes in some people the uncomfortable feeling that their own will is going to be controlled by someone else. They think that obeying is the very opposite of freedom, initiative and creativity. ... obedience, understood as a virtue, is not the blind submission of a slave...it exists when one does something because one recognises the authority of the person who issues the commands....this means that you have to elicit obedience in fewer things than one might expect. If we want our children to obey so that they grow in quality and avoid what is evil, we should not waste time in looking for superfluous obedience...obedience is relational."

This month in my readings for a CM book group, I found in the chapter on "the Way of the Will" this quote: "obedience is valuable only insofar as it helps the child towards making himself do that which he knows he ought to do. Every effort of obedience which does not give him a sense of conquest over his own inclinations, helps enslave him."

The obedience that I have towards those in authority over me (God, husband, Church) are all about relationship. When I have a right relationship with those in authority, it's no trouble to follow what they ask...and what they ask me to do isn't hard for they do not require "superfluous obedience"....obedience becomes relational.

References: Teaching your children values by Linda and Richard Eyre, Character Building by David Issacs and a Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola

Wonder at the things that are before thee making this the first step toward further knowledge.

Clement of Alexandria

Without wonder, men and women would lapse into deadening routine and little by little would become incapable of a life which is generally personal.

Saint John Paul II the Great

Persevere in reading while dwelling in stillness, that your mind may be drawn to wonders of God at all times.

St. Issac the Syrian

We need so to view the world as to combine an idea of wonder and an idea of welcome. We need to be happy in this wonderland without once being merely comfortable.

G.K. Chesterton

Children are born with curious minds, and all they need are things to wonder about, reflect on, imagine and experience in order for their minds to do their inner work and stretch their minds to capacity.

Charlotte Mason

It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.

Anne Frank

Wonder is not a force that pushes us passively from behind; it is situated ahead of us with irresistible force toward the object of our astonishment; it makes us advance toward it, filled with enchantment.

Sofia Cavaletti

I wonder-hush he whispers-if perhaps the world will wake again. When Christmas brings the stories back from where the skies are blue, Where clouds are scattering diamonds down on every cottage window-pane And every boy's a fairy prince and every tale is true.

Alfred Noyes

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder..., he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.
Rachel Carson

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, the huge waves of the sea, the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the oceans, at the circular motion of the stars;and they pass by themselves without wondering.

St. Augustine

Thoughtfulness is the beginning of great sanctity. If you learn this art of being thoughtful, you will become more and more Christlike, for His heart was meek and always thought of others.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Only those who look with the eyes of children can loose themselves in the object of their wonder.

Eberhard Arnold

Wonder is the salt of the Earth.

M.C. Escher

I think we need more of the wordless in our lives.

We need more stillness,

more of a sense of wonder, a feeling for the mystery of life.

Ben Okri

The world will never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder.

G.K. Chesterton

When we consider how human beings are made, we are filled with wonder at the wisdom of the Creator that is revealed in us.

Theodoret

Open my eyes to see clearly the wonders of your law

Psalm 119:18

Life eternal! O what wonders crowd on faith; what joy unknown, when amidst earths closing hungers, saints stand before the throne.

William Irons

When all thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys, transported with the view, I'm lost in wonder, love and praise. Addison

Generalism is the enemy of wonder because it suppresses uniqueness.

D H Lawrence

Wonder now more than ever is an essential survivor skill. Robert Macfarlane

The ends of the earth stand in awe at the sight of your wonders. Psalm 65

Wonder is the beginning of wisdom in learning from books as well as from nature. If you never ask yourself any questions about the meaning of a passage, you cannot expect the book to give you any insight you do not already possess.

Mortimer Adler