I Will Miss You, Madeleine

I would like to share a few quotes from the words of a dear friend who I never met. Madeleine L'Engle, the author of many wonderful stories, poems, and writings, was one of the major influences of my life. Although I didn't always agree with her, she always challenged me to think and to grow.

"If we commit ourselves to one person for life, this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather, it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession but participation."

"Those who do not believe in a loving God do not enjoy parties!."

"We've become too polite. We don't laugh and cry with God. We've forgotten the excitement of the Good News. What greater sign of the extraordinary, lavish marvelous love of God than the incarnation! God so loved the world and all of us in it that God elself came to live with us as one of us! Is it so good that we're afraid to believe it?"

"God says, 'I love you! I love you enough to come and be with you. And because I live forever, you will, too.'"

"There's the rub; an icon can far too easily become an idol. Idols always bring disaster to the idolater. An icon is an open door to the Creator; when it becomes an idol, the door slams in your face."

"Prayer was never meant to be magic," Mother said."Then why bother with it?" Suzy scowled."Because it's an act of love," Mother said." (From A Ring of Endless Light, one of my top 5 books of all time)

"The Trinity is the icon of human family, and the wholeness and holiness of the Trinity is a mystery, so we should not be surprised that the family is a mystery, too."

"To be in a state of unforgiveness is to know hell, at least in a small way." '

"Someone asked me about creation versus evolution," she says. "I said I can't get very excited about it. There's only one question worth asking, and that is, 'Did God make it?' And if the answer is 'Yes,' then why get so excited about it?"

"Evangelism is who you are."

"Nothing important is completely explicable."

"There aren't any easy answers to the questions being raised today, and it may be too easy for me to remember Jesus saying, "Greater love has no man than to give up his life for his friend." Or wife, or children. Isn't staying with your family sometimes a real equivalent of giving up your own life? Cannot it sometimes be a blessing, especially if it is given with graciousness, not rigid rectitude? I believe that it can, because I know of families where this is what has happened. Sacrifice is no longer popular, but I think that sometimes it can lead to true joy. Even the simplest of unions does not come free. There is always sacrifice."

And finally:

"What I believe is so magnificent, so glorious, that it is beyond finite comprehension. To believe that the universe was created by a purposeful, benign Creator is one thing. To believe that this Creator took on human vesture, accepted death and mortality, was tempted, betrayed, broken, and all for love of us, defies reason. It is so wild that it terrifies some Christians who try to dogmatize their fear by lashing out at other Christians, because tidy Christianity with all answers given is easier than one which reaches out to the wild wonder of God's love, a love we don't even have to earn."

Thanks for everything, Madeleine. I wanted more. I really wanted to know what would happen to Adam and Vicky. In your memory, and your honor, Madeleine, even though we never met or conversed, you were like a great-aunt to me, and I will truly miss you.