"We are not supposed to be as seperated as we have become from those who have gone before us and those who will come after. I learned to know my father far more after his death than during his life. Here we are on the border ofthe tremendous Christian mystery: time is no longer a barrier."
What an interesting point...
"The artist at work is less bound by time and space than in ordinary life. But we should be less restricted in ordinary life than we are. We are not supposed to be limited and stressed."
I believe I have shouted this at the inner lining of my mind half a million times; sometimes just uttering the words relieves the pressure, other times it echos and increases my irritation ten fold.
"The more freedom we are given, the more possibilities we have of abusing this freedom."
As true of every teenager as it is every child of GOD.
"Instead of rejoicing in this glorious 'impossible' which gives meaning and dignity to our lives, we try to domesticate GOD, to make HIS mighty actions comprehensible to our finite minds. It is not that power to understand is not available to us; it is; HE has promised. But it is a power far greater than the power stationof our greatest cities, and we find it easier not to get too close to it because we know that this power can kill as well as illuminate."
I read this and thought of how many times, despite HIS previous rescues, I have come to the conclusion that I am on the verge of a BIG thing and have tried to devise a backup plan. I am sure GOD sat laughing from HIS armchair while I scribbled a plan onto paper with crayon. It is this great power source that has empowered HIS soldiers and set HIS children free...how on earth do I still arrive (in some odd logic) at the idea that my backup plan is sifficient?
"In so-called primitive societies there are two words for power, mana and taboo: the power which creates and the power which destroys: the power which is benign and the power which is malign. Odd that we have retained in our vocabulary the word for dangerous power, taboo, and have lost mana."
I argued with this at first because I think our culture embraces power as a good thing, which it does; it was the end result of this enthusiasm which changed my mind. Today's world is a far cry from its intended beauty, and that is the result of selfish seeking of power. There is no respect for power; the kind of respect that holds children obedient to their parents and thus far has held off a nuclear war. What would the world look like if every ounce of power was treated with the respect of a sensitive nuclear button..?
"We look into outter space, and because we cannot 'see' a GOD we can touch, a GOD we can comprehend with our rational intellects, we invent new gods to take HIS place, all the little gods of technocracy, little gods who have eyes and see not, ears and hear not, hands and touch not, and who have nothing to say to us in the times of our deepest need."
First of all, I must say technocracy is my "word of the month." L'Engle's description of it throughout her book describes the obsession and dependence of technology of today. It also clears the fog we get lost in when we try and balance technology with our christianity. There are no compartments...which kindgom do you live in..?
Hildevert of Lavardin wrote:
GOD is over all things
under all things,
outside all,
within, but not enclosed,
without, but not excluded,
above, but not raised up,
below, but not depressed,
wholly above, presiding,
wholly without, embracing,
wholly within, filling
I am putting this in a frame on my wall...its just beautiful!
"Creativity is a way of living life, no matter what our voacation or how we earn our living. Creativity is not limited to the arts or having some kind of important career...And the men and women to whom JESUS offered this gift were ordinary beings, faulted, flawed, just like the res to of us. HE gave HIS disciples no job descriptions; HE did not disqualify Mary Magdalene because she had been afflicted with seven demons; HE did not spend a lot of time looking for the most qualified people, the most adult. Instead, HE chose people who were still childlike enough to leave the known comforts of the daily world, the security of their jobs, their reasonable way of life, to follow HIM."
Praise JESUS that HE does this. Sometimes I wish I could read the thought bubbles in Cubicle Land; I wonder how many people would rather be building a fort in their living room with their son, having tea and cookie dough with their daughters...and how many of them would prefer to share those joys with broken families and lonely children.
How many times has GOD moved in unpredictable ways beyond my vision and my control...and each time I was better off than before.
"If we insist of intellectual control we have to let go our high creativity, because keeping them means going along with all kinds of things we can't control."
"Robert Jastrow in his book, GOD and the Astonomers, talks about the astronomers after all their questions, struggling up to a mountain peak and finding the theologians already there."
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