Books That Change Your Life - Part 2

Author Madeleine L'Engle

"Walking On Water - Reflections on Faith & Art"


My Journal Entry - December 21, 2000 - "Confirmation...last night Kristen and I went to Barnes & Noble and she told me about a new book by Madeleine L'Engle. I could not believe it - of course, she is one of my favorite authors of all time .

In L'Engle's book she writes, "The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver. In a very real sense the artist should be like Mary, who when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command. I believe that each work of art whether it is a work of great genius or something very small, comes to the artist and says, 'Here I am. Enflesh me. Give birth to me."

On page 22 of Walking on Water, she writes "a young woman said to me, 'I read A Wrinkle In Time when I was eight or nine. I didn't understand it, but I knew what it was about'."

Continuing in my journal I wrote, "Yes..I say. Yes..me too. I read it and I knew Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who & Mrs. Which were angels. We sometimes have to go beyond ourselves to reach our destiny. We have to go beyond what is our world and reach out for God's help. Meg was a child and I quoted a passage in my journal about this. I was also the same age when her work affected me and I became no longer afraid of death."

My Journal Entry - December 28, 2000 - "I'm still waiting for a sign. I'm in Buffalo, New York for Christmas. (Eric has been diagnosed with pneumonia. We took him to the doctor and he has been in bed and put on antibiotics. He is very ill.) I'm reading, praying and waiting. Waiting for a clear something. I'll know it when it comes. Waiting for understanding. I wait for God's revelation to me. I know there is something more that I am not getting I can tell it. Something in the whole picture that is not complete. God is trying to tell me something and I just haven't gotten it yet. Something I wish I could listen to the wind to my dreams. I wish I could hear it."

We gave birth to the dream...we built the Rose Cottage in the back of the antique mall in April 2001. A Spot For Tea would soon have an actual location for tea parties.

Luke 1:38 " 'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered, 'May it be to me as you have said."