Old Paths

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Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16

Welcome! I’m Jen McBride. Child of God. Wife to one. Mother to 8. Second generation homeschooler. Queen of my home. Reader of Books. Drinker of Tea. Sometimes Writer and Picture Taker. Studier of Reformed Theology and Charlotte Mason Education.  Researcher of Lots of Things. Lover of England, history, health and nutrition, vintage clothing, planning and technology. Thinker of many thoughts.

This blog is dedicated to the pursuit of Truth, Goodness and Beauty as we seek, walk, and rest in the “old paths” of Scripture.

I write here in my sparest of spare moments for mothers like me who are interested in how this applies to the nitty – gritty of daily home life. How does it practically play out in homeschooling, marriage, motherhood, homemaking and the day to day reality? How about when you add illness, weariness, trials and affliction to the mix?

I don’t have all the answers, but I know the One Who does; the One Who can make the impossible, possible; the One Whose strength is made perfect in weakness, and the Source of all that is true, good and beautiful. I invite you to ponder along with me as we seek His ways, care for our families, build our homes and  raise our children for Christ’s Kingdom and glory.

Seek

“…See, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way…”

Walk

“…Walk therein…”

Rest
“…Ye shall find rest for your souls…”

Read more about the old paths here: The Old Paths: Seek. Walk. Rest.

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This blog is still in its infancy but I hope to be soon adding more content on a regular basis. Would you like to be updated when there are new posts? Subscribe to my mailing list here:

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When I first wrote this post 6 years ago, our fami When I first wrote this post 6 years ago, our family had already been through some hard years, but I had no idea what was still ahead for us: 

“This tree is teaching me a good lesson today. It had some intense pruning a few months ago and was cut back to just a few stumps. All its branches were gone and it looked dry and dead. But today, this beautiful little shoot is bursting forth with blooms and life. In my own season of pruning - where I have felt like there is not much of me left, and I can really identify with these stumps - I love the hopeful reminder this picture gives. I can still bloom where I am planted if my roots are buried where they belong.

“His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither..."”

The tree in this picture is gone now, along with our house, most of our belonging and a long list of other deeply painful losses. We have been in an exhausting season of storms, pruning and uprooting. We are feeling lost, beaten down and broken - and can really identify with these stumps. 

But God is still faithful, and while this tree might be gone, the lesson it left behind still holds true.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman... Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

The storms may rage and the pruning shears may cut deep, but “who shall separate us from the love of Christ?... NOTHING “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I love the hopeful reminder this picture gives. We can still bear fruit and bloom where we are planted, - even when we have been cut down and our earthly roots have been pulled up - because we are safely held by and rooted in the True, Life-giving, Unwavering, Unfailing Vine.
“There are many important aspects of home-life f “There are many important aspects of home-life from first training to highest education; but there is nothing in the way of direct teaching that will ever have so wide and lasting an effect as the atmosphere of home. And the gravest thought concerning this is that in this instance there is nothing to learn and nothing to teach: the atmosphere emanates from ourselves—literally is ourselves; our children live in it and breathe it, and what we are is thus incorporated into them. 

There is no pretence here or possibility of evasion; we may deceive ourselves: in the long run, we never deceive our children. The spirit of home lives, and, what is more, is accentuated in them.

Atmosphere is much more than teaching, and infinitely more than talk. I doubt if we could live a week even with a very reserved person without being able to say what is his aim in life, what is the thing he values supremely.

That after all is the kernel of life: to make up our minds what it is that we want, what is worth striving for; and it is this central aim which makes the atmosphere of our lives, which stamps itself inevitably on our ways and words, so that we are for-ever declaring it, though it may be unconsciously and involuntarily.”

~ The Atmosphere of Home by M. F. Jerrold, The Parents Review

Swipe through the slides for more snippets from this convicting and insightful Parents Review article.
“We believe that the first article of our P.N.E. “We believe that the first article of our P.N.E.U. educational creed—“children are born persons”—is of a revolutionary character; for what is a revolution but a complete reversal of attitude? And by the time, say, in another decade or two, that we have taken in this single idea, we shall find that we have turned round, reversed our attitude towards children not only in a few particulars, but completely."

~ Charlotte Mason, “The Parents Review”: 1911 - Vol. 22, Page 420
“It was the gradual infiltration of Miss Mason’s ideas, viz.: that children are born persons; that that precious individuality which marks off one child from another must not be crushed out, but made to operate in his grasp of the universe; that it was the parents’ high responsibility, while preserving his individuality, at the same time to nourish his mind, train his will and instruct his conscience, and so equip him with the means of giving and receiving to the utmost of his capacity...”

~ Henrietta Franklin,
“Miss Mason’s Contribution to Educational Thought”:
Parents’ Review, 1926
“In this time of extraordinary pressure, educati “In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother's first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet and growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it, for the most part, spent out in the fresh air.”

~ Charlotte Mason, Home Education
“Charlotte Mason believed that every child is bo “Charlotte Mason believed that every child is born a person, that many are handicapped because we do not recognise that every child has affinities with all the knowledge due to him (to God, to man, to the universe around him); that he has natural powers to deal with it, and that his education must be planned to secure due and continuous supplies for body, mind and spirit, and that ‘every school should educate every scholar in the three sorts of knowledge.’ The P.N.E.U. has a great contribution to offer; the time is ripe and our need is great.” 

~ Elsie Kitching, The Parents Review: 1941 - Vol. 52, Page 329
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