Letter to my sister

Madeleine L'Engle quote

I've been thinking about our conversation the other day. In my own pursuit of "what to do next", I've been trying to follow beauty, joy, love, and peace. As part of that, I've been reading what many great Christians have said about faith and art. CS Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, & Madeleine L'Engle were incredibly articulate critical thinkers and Christian apologists. As I read this passage from L'Engle's Icons of the True essay, I kept thinking of you.

From the book, Walking on Water: Reflections in Faith and Art, her essay called, "Icons of the True" (1980), 

Madeleine writes:

"If I'd read these words of Rilke's during the long years of rejection they might have helped, because I could have answered the question in the affirmative:

'You are looking outward, and that above all you should not do now. Nobody can counsel and help you, nobody. There is only one single way, Go into yourself. Search for the reason that bids you to write (______________ insert your own passion here, replace the word "write" with your own deep abiding desire, fill in the blank); find out whether it is spreading out its roots in the deepest places of your heart, acknowledge to yourself whether you would have to die if it were denied you to write.This above all—ask yourself in the stillest hour of the night: Must I write?

Delve into yourself for a deep answer. And if this should be affirmative, if you may meet this earnest question with a strong and simple "I must," then build your life according to this necessity; your life even into its most indifferent and slightest hour must be a sign of this urge and testimony to it.'

That is from Letters to a Young Poet, and surely Rilke speaks to all of us who struggle with a vocation of words."

Note: Rainier Maria Rilke was a beloved German poet.

L'Engle was writing this specifically to talk about her own vocation as a writer. You must ask yourself, "What is it that I am deeply driven to do?What brings me joy when I do, so that it doesn't even feel like work? What do I feel the urge to create?"

I believe this is the first step in a fulfilling life. I am asking myself these same questions.

This week, I am reading everything that helps me focus on writing and creating my own aesthetic (that's a personal philosophy of art).

I hope this is as helpful and insightful for you as it is for me.