life is a gift

I have a book titled Glimpses of Grace. It is by Madeleine L'Engle. She wrote the much famous children's novel A Wrinkle in Time that I read when I was probably 11 years old. That book was a life-changer for me. It was when I realized a lot of things about life... like that God is everywhere... really everywhere. That he is in science and relationships with other people and in your heartache and your joy. I went on to read more of Madeleine L'Engle's books. Each one was powerful and inspirational to me.

So when I discovered Glimpses of Grace as an adult, I was THRILLED. It's excerpts from both her books for both children and adults that serve as meditations on God and life in general. The book is organized as a reading for each day. It takes 5 minutes to read an entry. But it makes you think and fuels your day.

Today's entry is a father talking to his daughter. He tells her to love life. He says, "You can love it even when you're in anguish." There is something that most people would be afraid to say to each other in the midst of a crisis. But it's true. If you don't love life when it is the worst, how can you appreciate the best of the best times? It's hard to digest when we are in the deepest throws of sorrow and pain that it is something that is good for us. It's hard to understand that the worst heartache you can imagine serves any purpose that is good. But you have to love life and keep faith that there is a reason.

These words were reinforced at church today when our pastor talked about the origins of the hymn "It is well with my soul". The author had lost all his possessions in the Chicago Fire and his 4 daughters had died crossing the Atlantic. But upon feeling the weight of the anguish caused by these events... he wrote a song about eternal hope. He was loving life even in anguish.