WinterSong

I finally finished a book. Yea, me! At Christmas, I decided I should celebrate the twelve days of Christmas by reading Christmas-themed books all the way to Twelfth Night. It took me a lot longer to finish my Christmas reading than I'd planned, but that's fine.

One of the books I chose was WinterSong by Madeleine L'Engle and Luci Shaw. Madeleine L'Engle is one of my favorite authors (she wrote, among many other things, A Wrinkle in Time), but I'm not really familiar with Luci Shaw. The book is a collection of "Christmas readings," poems, journal entries, essays, short passages, and a short story. Most of them are religious in nature. I'm of a different religious denomination than both the authors, so it was interesting to me to read about Christmas from a different perspective.

There were a couple of parts I particularly enjoyed. In "Miracle on 10th Street" L'Engle talks about a time when she worried that her daughter had leukemia. In this context she talks about the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. I like that she pointed out that the Lord did not remove them from the furnace but went into the flames with them and protected them.

There is also a wonderful poem by L'Engle called, "Making Worlds: A Child's Prayer." Here it is:

Lord God,

you took great big handfuls of

chaos and made galaxies

and stars and solar systems

and night and day and sun and rain and snow

and me.

I take paint and crayon and paper

and make worlds, too,

along with you.

The book ends on a hopeful and happy note with "Prayers for Peace." On the whole, an enjoyable book, and a good way to close out the Christmas season.