I am re-reading Walking on Water by Madeline L’Engle for inspiration. I have read a number of her books over the years but this one goes down as the all-time favorite. Did you know that she wrote over 50 books of fiction, poetry, autobiography, and non-fiction? I loved A Wrinkle in Time, The Genesis Trilogy, and The Rock that is Higher. She was an amazing writer, and I believe Walking on Water is one of her best. 

Here are some highlights from the book that have stayed with me for years. 
First, let’s start with stories. “A friend of mine, a fine storyteller, remarked to me, ‘Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.’ Yes, God told stories. St. Matthew says, ‘And he spoke many things unto them in parables …and without a parable spoke he not unto them.’ When the powers of this world denigrate and deny the value of story, life loses much of its meaning, and for many people in the world today, life has lost its meaning, one reason why every other hospital bed is for someone with a mental, not a physical illness.” (P. 56)

This quote struck me in the midst of the COVID chaos. I know many of us are feeling less than quite whole at the moment. Mentally, I am reading more stories and watching more dramas. I need stories. Any dip into a story is healing for the mind, and our minds definitely need something with all the isolation that has gone on.

Another quote from the book that stands out is from Canon Tallis. “One time I was talking to Canon Tallis, who is my spiritual director as well as friend, and I was deeply grieved about something, and I kept telling him how woefully I had failed someone I loved, failed totally, otherwise that person couldn’t have done the wrong that was so destructive. Finally he looked at me calmly, ‘Who are you to think you are better than our Lord? After all, he was singularly unsuccessful with a great many people.’ That remark, made to me years ago, has stood me in good stead, time and again. I have to try, but I do not have to succeed. Following Christ has nothing to do with success as the world sees success. It has to do with love.” (P. 64)

That one kind of hurt because I could relate to it so well. Lately I have been reflecting on how ineffective I have been in teaching, leading, encouraging, and sharing Christ with others. The good news is that I am not even expected to be effective. I am expected to be faithful. I have expected to love others.

The chapter entitled A Coal in the Hand was also insightful. “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 … Paul certainly wasn’t qualified to talk about love, Paul who had persecuted so many Christians as ruthlessly as possible; and yet his poem on love in I Corinthians has shattering power. It not a vague, genial sense of well-being that it offers us but a particularly, painful, birth-giving love … It is a listening, unself-conscious love, and many artists who are incapable of this in their daily living are able to find it as they listen to their work, that work which binds our wounds and heals us and helps us toward wholeness.” (P. 71-72)

This is true for me. Writing helps. It binds wounds. It helps me deal with reality. It moves me towards wholeness. It helps me enter the narrow gate of heaven. It shows me I can walk on water. 

The last chapter is Feeding the Lake. This last chapter is all about vulnerability. It starts by describing Christ’s vulnerability. “We are, ourselves, as little children, and therefore we are vulnerable. We might paraphrase Descartes to read, ‘I hurt; therefore I am.’ And because of the great affirmation of the Incarnation, we may not give in to despair.” (P. 229)

I hurt; therefore I am? In all honesty, this makes sense. We are all on the winding road called life. We all hurt from something. The question is whether we wallow in it or not. 

I may wallow in hurt for a while, but I do eventually pick myself up, dust myself off, and get on with life. I doubt I am making great art, but I know I am working through my pain.

Some of the greatest artists of the past were able to overcome their hurt with their art. Milton wrote Paradise Lost. “Milton could have retreated into passive blindness and self-pity instead of trying to patience of his three dutiful daughters and any visiting friends by insisitng that they write down what he dictated.” (P. 232).

Beethoven was going deaf when he wrote the Ninth Symphony. “Beethoven could have remained in the gloom of silence instead of forging the glorious sounds which he could never hear except in his artist’s imagination.” (P. 232). 
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What does Madeline L’Engle discover? Over and over, her reflections come back to the fact that she is a Christian. She is an artist, and she is a Christian.

This book invites you to journey into mystery and beauty. She is earthy, passionate, and holy. She is worth following because she followed Jesus. This is so worth the read or re-read! 

I admit to having this book for months without delving into it. I wanted to be able to savor the contents as I knew it was going to be good.

First, the story of how I came to hear the name Andrew Peterson. It started off small. I heard him singing on a Slugs and Bugs album. This is music made for kids and I was intrigued by his playful way. So, I looked him up on the internet.

Google told me he was the author of the Wingfeather Saga and a musician. I moved over to Youtube to hear a little bit of his music and realized I was listening to someone who went far beyond the usual be-boppy worship music that has been so popular. He was a singer/song-writer in the best sense of the word. So many of the cuts showed me he was a modern Paul Simon (Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints are two of Simon's solo albums) who just happened to be Christian. This is the Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel fame. Need I say more? 

I also remembered that I had seen him talking to another author on a Read Aloud Revival segment. I went back and watched that again, digging for treasure. 

This book is a treasure. It's a treasure for music makers, for writers, for artists. It's for anyone interested in doing anything creative. The subtitle says Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making. 

He has personal stories woven through book. It's an autobiography of sorts that starts and ends with calling and has much to offer in the middle. 

In the chapter entitled A Matter of Life or Death I marked this quote. "Tear your attention away from your shame, your self-loathing, your self-consciousness, your self. Now, rejoice. Become who you were meant to be, who you already are in Christ. Then get busy writing. Park the scooter in the field and write with abandon. Fight back. It's a matter of life and death" (p. 48). 

In Longing to Belong, I found out that he keeps bees. He makes honey. He speaks of co-laboring in his little corner of creation and how sweet the experience is. "It speaks to me of its maker. And my Maker speaks to me through it. I love to watch people taste my honey. They always close their eyes and breathe deep, and they always proclaim it better by far than what they at the grocery store. I'm not sure it tastes all that different, but their enjoyment is heightened by the knowledge it came from the flowers underfoot and the long labor of the bees. Sweet alchemy. I think it reminds them of Eden ... The Kingdom is coming but the kingdom is here. That's why we are homesick, and it's also why we might as well get busy planting" (p. 60).

In The Integrated Imagination, he shares his love for fantasy and the myriad of fantasy series that he has read. His love shines through at the end when I read this quote. "Someone out there is building a bridge so we ca slip across to elf-land and smuggle back some of its light into this present darkness. I'm always looking for that bridge. I suppose you could call it a quest" (p. 73). The echoes of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are there for anyone to pick up on.

In Serving the Audience he writes about how people coming to a concert are not only giving their time but their attention. "... the more surprising thing is that they are giving you their attention - which is an act of profound generosity  is a culture that clamors for every second of our attention already" (p. 98).

There were a number of gems in this chapter about writing that are worth noting. 

"Write it like you would say it" (p. 101).

"That's what it means to serve to work and to serve the listener. Proceed with the utmost care. Whatever you do, don't let their glasses fall off. Don't break the spell" (p. 101).

"... a song can make you actually feel something, a tingle in a place you thought long dead. That's what the best songs - the best works of art - do for me" (p. 104).

"Just pretend you're talking. Pretend you are looking him in the eye and opening your heart to your little boy" (p. 104-105).

There is so much in his words and I still have two chapters to read.

This book, like all great books, is a feast of words.

​Thoughtful, careful words crafted by someone who cares deeply about art in its many gloried forms. 

Take it and read.

First of all, I would like to say that this woman, Anne Bogel, is just delightful in terms of writing style. The chapters of this book, and her first book, are well written, easy to understand, and long enough to feel that you chewed on a great concept, but short enough that you are not going to be upset at the length of the chapter. This would be a great summer read when you are not in the mood for a full blown narrative. 

There are 21 chapters in this little gem. My favorite chapters were entitled "The Books Next Door", "Bookworm Problems", and "Again, For the First Time". 

I find that book reviews with quotes from the book give a sense of whether it's good or not. Here are a few from "Again, For the First Time".

"I've found that a good books not only holds up to repeated visits, but improves each time we return to it"  (118). I immediately thought of lectio divina when I read this. The stories that I read in the Bible are even better when I have returned to them to revisit the character and how their story is wrapped up in God's story.

"Great books keep surprising me with new things" (119). We return to great books to revisit and relearn, but often we just see new concepts or ideas that bless us.

"When we revisit a book we've read before, we see how life has woken us up to understand passage that previously went over our heads. The book itself highlights the gap between who I am and who I used to be" (122). I loved then when I first read it, and I love it now. I am changed and I get to see it! A reflective moment at its best.

"A reader's character is her fate - and I'm determined to remain open to new experiences in the same old (new) books, to see the ways I've changed and how those books have too" (123). Openness is a great key to life, not just reading. Experiences can be different depending on our stage in life. The way I view books now is different from before. They are treasures that tell stories that reflect how I have changed, how my thinking has changed, and how we all fit into God's redemptive plan for humanity. We really need to stay open to that last one.

This is a delightful and easy read! Download it or pick it up at your bookstore!