Madeline L'Engle

Madeline L'Engle recently died. I've written about her book Walking on Water several times. It's one of my favorite books. I thought for my Top Ten today, I share some of my favorite quotes from this book in memory of Madeline.

• The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver.
• Until I have worked through self, I will not be enabled to get out of the way.
• Stories are able to help us to become more whole, to become Named. And Naming is one of the impulses behind all art; to give an name to the cosmos we see despite all the chaos.
• There is much that we cannot understand, but our lack of comprehension neither negates nor eliminates it.
• God understands that part of us which is more than we think we are.
• Art is communication, and if there is no communication it is as through the work had been still-born.
• I want to be open to God, not to what man says about God.
• Ultimately, when you are writing, you stop thinking and write what you hear.
• The greater the radius of light, the wider the perimeter of darkness.
• I must have more faith in the work than I have in myself.