Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007)
“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV“That’s the way things come clear. All of a sudden. And then you realize how obvious they’ve been all along.”
-Madeleine L’Engle
Thank you, Mrs. L’Engle, for passing on the glimpses that you saw. Thank you, God, for Mrs. L’Engle.
Story (with excellent bio) here.
Books and Reading Bubbles Creativity and Creating Poetry/Hymns/Lyrics Quotations
by amo
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From my reading . . .
Writing can be exhilarating work. While you sit quietly scribbling into your notebook, memories and associations rise like bubbles out of the thick mud of your mind. Interesting words pop up, colorful images. It’s a kind of play, and there’s a lot of happiness in it.
From The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice for Beginning Poets
Happy Birthday, Wendell Berry!
some poems
At a Country Funeral
Breaking
For The Future
Grace
Horses
How To Be a Poet
Kentucky River Junction
A Meeting
The Peace of Wild Things
The Real Work
Ripening
Sabbaths 1998, VII
Sabbath poem II, 1995
The Silence
A Spiritual Journey
Testament
What We Need Is Here
Words
Wendell Berry has also written short stories, novels, and a great many essays.
From my reading . . .
“If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so.”
From my reading . . .
Remember that there are only three kinds of things anyone need ever do. (1) Things we ought to do. (2) Things we’ve got to do. (3) Things we like doing. I say this because some people seem to spend so much of their time doing things for none of the three reasons, things like reading books they don’t like because other people read them.
E. B. White’s Birthday (1899-1985)
“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve (or save) the world and a desire to enjoy (or savor) the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
—E.B. White
Elwyn Brooks White wrote the children’s books Charlotte’s Web
Robert A. Heinlein’s Birthday (1907-1988)
“One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen.”
—Robert A. Heinlein
One of the “greats” of science fiction (and one of my personal favorites), Heinlein published his first sci-fi short story “Life-Line” in 1939 and continued writing until his death in 1988. The Wikipedia article seems quite accurate and detailed, so I’ll refrain from commenting on his controversial nature, except to note that Heinlein censored himself (and was censored by editors) in his juvenile literature, making it a lot more fun to read than what he wrote for adults. (He was an odd, odd man.) Generally speaking, his short stories are more “restrained” as well, written as they were for mass marketed magazines.
Campaign for the U.S.S. Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein Centennial
Robert Heinlein at 100
Robert A. Heinlein at Amazon
My personal, hands down, all-time favorite (juvenile/young adult) novel of Heinlein’s is Tunnel in the Sky
Bill Watterson’s Birthday
Calvin: Want to help me write a book?
Hobbes: Sure. What’s it about?
Calvin: Well, you know what historical fiction is? This is sort of like that. I’m writing a fictional autobiography. It’s the story of my life, but with a lot of parts completely made up.
Hobbes: Why would you make up your own life?
Calvin: Because in my book I have a flame thrower!
Bill Watterson is the creator of Calvin and Hobbes. You can find more information about him here.
Here’s a nice tidbit of trivia for you: Calvin’s teacher, Miss Wormwood, is named after the junior devil in The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. (I can’t believe I never noticed that!)
From my reading . . .
A lot of our art making is instinctive. What compels us to create is something inside that needs to get out. That is why the quality of our interior life is so important. If we are living righteously and God’s laws are constantly before us, then the imaginations of our heart will reflect that. If we are constantly learning from Scripture, even our unconscious will is being purified, and our dreams will be different from the dreams of the unregenerate person.
From Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts
From my reading . . .
Artists have no special protection [from evil]. In fact, because of their tendency to be curious about all forms of experience and their need to avoid rigid forms of thinking, they are probably more vulnerable to temptation. The standard protection kit offered to all Christians is the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of readiness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit and prayer (Ephesians 6). We can’t survive with the T-shirt of Sunday school memories and the baseball cap of personal vision.
(Italics mine)
From Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts
