Ambleside Flourish Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Calming the Troubled Heart Jan 12, 2021

Show notes

We humans are destined to live in troubled times. As novelist and screenwriter William Goldman puts it in The Princess Bride, “Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”

Goldman echoes the words of Jesus, who made this clear to His followers, “In this world, you will have tribulation.” Trouble is the norm, not the exception, and troubled hearts always tend toward paralysis and polarization.

In troubled states, one wants desperately either to despair and quit, or to do something. But what?

The Greatest Gift of All (Christmas 2020) Dec 18, 2020

Show notes

Take a moment to imagine a time when someone was truly interested in you.

What would it be like for you to give this same kind of attention to your spouse, to your children, and to others?

This Christmas, consider giving the greatest gift of all: your sacred presence.

The Primary Thing For Them Nov 25, 2020

Show notes

The Pilgrims defined daily living in relationship with God; He was ever before them, the primary thing for them; their unfailing constancy in need and in provision, lives sustained in Him and through Him. May we gain daily perspective through the uncertainty of our times lived in and through Him and pause for Thanksgiving.

To Know and To Love Nov 19, 2020

Show notes

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, we find three major players, each with a different orientation toward life:

The younger brother who seeks to ESCAPE and INDULGE
The older brother who seeks to PERFORM and CONTROL
The father who seeks TO KNOW and TO LOVE

A true education must promote knowing and loving, not performing or indulging.

On Providence Nov 04, 2020

Show notes

To believe in Divine Providence is to accept that we do not always know what is best, and the world does not conform to our will but to God's.

Every Person: A Creature of Desire Oct 15, 2020

Show notes

Slogans like "Be your way" and "Just do it," slogans that encourage us to follow any and all desires, may be good for sales, but they're horrible for souls.

Every Person: A Web of Relations Sep 28, 2020

Show notes

As the spider is made for building silk webs, so we are made for building relations with persons and things. Our brains are designed for and dependent upon the creation of meaningful relations with persons and things.

Persons: Strange and Glorious Amphibians Sep 04, 2020

Show notes

Humans are not mere matter or a body directed by some external soul. They are a body-soul unity. In this dense discussion of these primary approaches to understanding humanity, we propose that a proper understanding of human nature will necessarily inform right relationship and education.

Children Are Born Persons --- Part 1 Aug 19, 2020

Show notes

The first article of a valid educational creed – “children are born persons” – is of a revolutionary character; for what is a revolution but a complete reversal of attitude? - Charlotte Mason

Nurturing the Divine Life in the Child Aug 11, 2020

Show notes

It is a hard truth that, as a rule, a child will not give greater care and attention to the divine life than do his parents and teachers. read more