Madeleine Musings

"Two people whose opinion I respect told me that the word "Christian" would turn people off. This certainly says something about the state of Christianity today. I wouldn't mind if to be a Christian were accepted as being the dangerous thing which it is; I wouldn't mind it, when a group of Christians meet for bread and wine, we might well be interrupted and jailed for subversive activities; I wouldn't mind if, once again, we were being thrown to the lions. I do mind, desperately, that the word "Christian" means for so many people smugness, and piosity, and holier-than-thouness. Who, today, can recognzie a Christian because of "how those Christians love one another"? Madeleine L'Engle, A Circle of Quiet

Oh, to sum up how I feel about my newly discovered friend, Madeleine. Respect? Certainly. Delight? Absolutely. As if she's speaking to me directly? Quite frequently.

She wrote A Circle of Quiet nearly 40 years ago, as a woman in later stages of life, about her life at her home, Crosswicks, in New England. And yet she reaches me in a profound way. She speaks such simple gems of truth as she reflects on her life and on what it means to just be. If only I could meet her in the town grocery store, in a church pew, or in her kitchen, over a scruptious homebaked goody (that I would bring :)) - I would tell her how I, a 26-year-old who is navigating life in Seattle in 2010, have fallen in love with her stories and ideas. And how I can't wait to read the rest of the Crosswicks series.

Madeleine, I'm not a writer, yet because of people like you, I feel compelled to share my stories in hopes that they will inspire others as much as yours inspire me.