Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi.
It was Madeleine L'Engle who educated me on Advent...what she called 'The Irrational Season'. That was also the title of book three of what is termed her 'Crosswicks Journals' (Books one and two being A Circle of Quiet and The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, respectively). Reading The Irrational Season, I learned that Advent is not really just about anticipating Christmas, but is eschatological, looking for the coming of Christ, in all aspects. Irrational to think about Christ coming to us, or returning, especially in our current scientific-facts-based thinking. But irrational is not fake...is not imaginary...just contrary to what we consider logic. Irrational numbers are factually existent...as is irrational faith.
It feels highly irrational to me that Christmas is a mere 3 days away. My inner clock wants the calendar to be somewhere in early November. I hurt my back; I caught a nasty respiratory virus; I was Elizabeth, mother of John, in our church Christmas production. All of which contributed to the missing time.
A lot of words to say that I decided to put the Heart study on hold until after the holidays. It's a convenient place to take a break, having just finished Lamentations, so we will dive into Ezekiel in the new year.
But I am still finding myself reflecting on things...and reading seasonally appropriate thoughts.
I have a slew of Christmas/ Advent related books...and they occupy the space under the tree, giving the feeling of 'something there' before and after the gifts show up. The cat comes and goes, lol.
I wish I had time to sit down and read through all the books there...so much Good Stuff. But tonight I picked up Miracle on 10th Street, which is a collection of seasonally appropriate writings from none other than Madeleine L'Engle. Tonight I landed on an essay titled 'The Other Side of Reason'...I am not sure where it was first published. I could look through my collection of Madeleine's writings but...time...I'm just going to quote it from the anthology in front of me.
To paint a picture or to write a story or to compose a song is an incarnational activity. The artist is a servant who is willing to be a birthgiver. In a very real sense the artist (male or female) should be like Mary, who, when the angel told her that she was to bear the Messiah, was obedient to the command....Mary did not always understand. But one does not have to understand to be obedient. Instead of understanding -- that intellectual understanding which we are so fond of -- there is a feeling of rightness, of knowing, knowing things which we are not yet able to understand.
Irrational. But somehow solidly right.
Merry Christmas.
