A Wrinkle in Time...

(From the New York Times, Sept. 8, 2007)
Madeleine L’Engle, an author whose childhood fables, religious meditations and fanciful science fiction transcended both genre and generation, most memorably in her children’s classic “A Wrinkle in Time,” died on Thursday in Litchfield, Conn. She was 88.

I'm thrilled for Madeleine but so very sad for the rest of us who will be getting no new stories, wit, and wisdom from her. Madeleine L'Engle, though known best for her children's books, is one of my favorite non-fiction writers. Her book "Walking on Water" is probably one of the best books I've ever read discussing faith and art.

I decided to let Madeleine have my post today, she writes and communicates so much better than I ever could.

From "Walking on Water" by Madeleine L'Engle

"The artist, if he is not to forget how to listen, must retain the vision which includes angels and dragons and unicorns, and all the lovely creatures which our world would put in a box marked children only."

"There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the Incarnation."

"In art we are once again able to do all the things we have forgotten; we are able to walk on water; we speak to the angels who call us; we move, unfettered, among the stars."

"In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there's no danger that we will confuse God's work with our own, or God's glory with our own."

"We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are, to see through plastic sham to living, breathing reality, and to break down our defenses of self-protection in order to be free to receive and give love."