George MacDonald gives me renewed strength during times of trouble--times when I have seen people tempted to deny God--when he says, "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the nature of suffering and how it connects us to divine experiences.
In this quote, Madeleine L'Engle references George MacDonald's words to express the idea that suffering is an inherent part of the human experience. Instead of erasing suffering, the sacrificial nature of Christ's suffering offers a profound understanding of our own hardships, suggesting that through suffering, we can find solidarity and strength in our struggles, just as Christ did.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the value of enduring hardship as a way to foster resilience.
Truth is what is true, and it's not necessarily factual. Truth and fact are not the same thing. Truth does not contradict or deny facts, but it goes through and beyond facts. This is something that it is very difficult for some people to understand. Truth can be dangerous.
If you don't recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.
I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.
The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.
When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.
Rather than feeling lost and unimportant and meaningless, set against galaxies which go beyond the reach of the furthest telescopes, I feel that my life has meaning. Perhaps I should feel insignificant, but instead I feel a soaring in my heart that the God who could create all this — and out of nothing — can still count the hairs of my head.
If I am no longer disturbed myself, I will deal less with disturbed people and with violent material. I don't regret having concerned myself with such people, because I think that most of us are disturbed.
You become mature when you become the authority of your own life.
One of the advantages of being disorganized is the joy of discovery.
It is an easy thing for one whose foot is on the outside of calamity to give advice and to rebuke the sufferer.
Partial knowledge is more triumphant than complete knowledge; it takes things to be simpler than they are, and so makes its theory more popular and convincing.
It's good to learn from your mistakes. It's better to learn from other people's mistakes.
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